Manchester United belatedly rediscovered its famous fighting spirit by roaring back from behind to beat Stoke City 3-2 on Saturday and re-energise its Premier League title defence.
United remains eight points behind Arsenal, which won 2-0 at Crystal Palace to consolidate its position at the head of the table.
Stoke took a fortuitous lead in the fourth minute at Old Trafford through Peter Crouch.
Robin van Persie equalised in the 43rd minute only for Marko Arnautovic to restore the visitors’ lead on the stroke of half-time with a superb free-kick.
Wayne Rooney cleverly flicked a looping header over Begovic to equalise in the 78th minute, before substitute Javier Hernandez completed the comeback with a back-post header.
Liverpool climbed into second place thanks to a glorious hat-trick by Luis Suarez in a 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion.
The Uruguayan broke the deadlock with a fine goal in the 12th minute, picking the ball up in a deep position, drifting past one defender and nutmegging another before drilling a low shot past Boaz Myhill.
He added a second five minutes later and completed his first-ever Anfield hat-trick 10 minutes into the second half.
James Morrison replied with a penalty in the 66th minute, but Daniel Sturridge restored Liverpool’s three-goal advantage in style 13 minutes from time. Arsenal survived the dismissal of goalscorer Mikel Arteta to overcome Palace and preserve its status at the top of the standings on the 150th anniversary of the FA.
The results: Aston Villa 0 lost to Everton 2 (Lukaku 68, Osman 81); Liverpool 4 (Suarez 12, 17, 55, Sturridge 77) bt West Brom 1 (Morrison 66-pen); Manchester United 3 (van Persie 43, Rooney 78, Hernandez 80) bt Stoke 2 (Crouch 4, Arnautovic 45); Norwich 0 drew with Cardiff 0; Southampton 2 (Lambert 20, Rodriguez 42) Fulham 0; Crystal Palace 0 lost to Arsenal 2 (Arteta 47-pen, Giroud 87); .
