Manchester United were denied the chance to keep the pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester City as Demba Ba’s controversial penalty gave 10-man Newcastle a 1-1 draw yesterday.

When Javier Hernandez opened the scoring early in the second half at Old Trafford, United were on course to move to within two points of City ahead of their rivals’ trip to Liverpool today.

But the reigning champions were left four points adrift of City as Ba equalised 15 minutes later following a dubious decision by referee Mike Jones.

United had taken the lead in the 49th minute through Mexican striker Hernandez, who deflected in Steven Taylor’s attempted clearance from Wayne Rooney’s shot.

Yet Newcastle drew level in the most controversial manner in the 64th minute.

Rio Ferdinand appeared to win the ball when he tackled Hatem Ben Arfa in the penalty area and Jones initially gave a corner.

However, Jones’s assistant sig-nalled for a penalty and Senegal striker Ba stepped up to score des-pite United’s protests.

Newcastle survived the final 12 minutes down to 10 men after Jonas Gutierrez was sent off for a second booking after fouling Nani.

“It was an absolute travesty. The problem is that assistants are not full-time even if the referees are,” Ferguson said.

“I didn’t think anyone in the ground thought it was a penalty apart from the assistant referee. The referee thought it was a corner. He was nearer to it. He was only eight yards away.”

At Stamford Bridge, fifth-placed Chelsea finally got back on track with a comfortable 3-0 win against toothless Wolves.

After three defeats in their last four league matches and a painful Champions League loss at Bayer Leverkusen in mid-week, under-fire boss Andre Villas-Boas could not afford another slip at home to one of the division’s strugglers.

Perfect start

They got the perfect start when captain John Terry scored with a powerful header from Juan Mata’s corner.

Mata was the provider again when Daniel Sturridge added Chelsea’s second goal in the 29th minute.

Spain’s Mata completed his virtuoso display with the third goal on the stroke of half-time.

“It was a really important result,” Villas-Boas said.

“We seek no excuses for the bad period and we know we haven’t been doing well but our confidence grew in the first half.”

Third-placed Tottenham moved to within six points of leaders City after Jermain Defoe’s late goal clinched a 3-1 win at West Bromwich Albion.

Harry Redknapp’s side fell behind when Youssouf Mulumbu netted in the 10th minute but Spurs equalised in the 26th minute through Em-manuel Adebayor.

Nicky Shorey gave away a penalty with a foul on Aaron Lennon and although Adebayor’s spot-kick was saved by Ben Foster, the Togo striker slotted in the rebound.

England striker Defoe won it for the visitors in the 81st minute and Adebayor added a late third.

Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen went from zero to hero as his late goal rescued a 1-1 draw against Fulham at the Emirates.

The Belgian turned Danny Murphy’s chipped pass into his own net in the 65th minute, but he scored at the right end in the 82nd minute, heading in Theo Walcott’s cross to extend Arsenal’s unbeaten run to 11 matches.

Everton’s revival continued as David Moyes’s side won 2-0 against third-bottom Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.

David Wheater was shown a straight red card for a studs-up lunge on Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Everton took advantage through second-half goals from Marouane Fellaini and Apostolos Vellios.

Grant Holt got a 73rd-minute winner as Norwich beat QPR 2-1 at Carrow Road.

Russell Martin fired Norwich ahead from close range in the 15th minute before QPR defender Luke Young equalised in the 59th minute.

Wigan moved off the bottom of the table after Franco Di Santo’s stoppage-time strike secured a 2-1 win at Sunderland.

Results and standings

Premier League

Arsenal 1
Vermaelen 82;
Fulham 1
Vermaelen 65 og;

HT: 0-0. Att: 60,043.

Bolton 0
Everton 2
Fellaini 49; Vellios 78;

HT: 0-0. Att: 24,058.
Red card: Wheater (B) 19.

Chelsea 3
Terry 7; Sturridge 29; Mata 45;
Wolves 0

HT: 3-0. Att: 41,648.

Man. United 1
Hernandez 49;
Newcastle 1
Ba 64 pen;

HT: 0-0. Att: 75,594.
Red card: Gutierrez (N) 78.

Norwich City 2
Martin 14; Holt 73;
QPR 1
Young 59;

HT: 1-1. Att: 26,7781.

Stoke City 3
Delap 28; Whelan 58; Crouch 72;
Blackburn 1
Rochina 86;

HT: 1-0. Att: 26,686.

Sunderland 1
Larsson 8;
Wigan 2
Gomez 44 pen; Di Santo 90;

HT: 1-1. Att: 37,883.

West Brom 1
Mulumbu 10;
Tottenham 3
Adebayor 26, 90; Defoe 81;

HT: 1-1. Att: 24,801.


P W D L F A Pts
Man. City 12 11 1 0 42 11 34
Man. United 13 9 3 1 30 13 30
Tottenham 12 9 1 2 26 16 28
Newcastle 13 7 5 1 19 12 26
Chelsea 13 8 1 4 28 17 25
Arsenal 13 7 2 4 26 23 23
Liverpool 12 6 4 2 16 11 22
Everton 12 5 1 6 15 16 16
Norwich 13 4 4 5 19 21 16
Aston Villa 12 3 6 3 16 17 15
QPR 13 4 3 6 14 24 15
Stoke City 13 4 3 6 13 23 15
WBA 13 4 2 7 12 20 14
Swansea City 12 3 4 5 12 16 13
Fulham 13 2 6 5 15 16 12
Sunderland 13 2 5 6 15 15 11
Wolves 13 3 2 8 13 23 11
Bolton 13 3 0 10 19 31 9
Wigan 13 2 3 8 12 24 9
Blackburn 13 1 4 8 17 30 7

Playing today
Liverpool vs Manchester City - 17.00
Swansea vs Aston Villa - 14.30

Top scorers
13 goals: Van Persie (Arsenal).
10 goals: Dzeko (Man. City), Aguero (Man. City).
9 goals: Rooney (Man. United).

Next fixtures
Tuesday: League Cup QFs 20.45 Cardiff vs Blackburn; Chelsea vs Liverpool. 21.00 Arsenal vs Manchester City.
Wednesday: League Cup QF 20.45 Man. United vs Crystal Palace.
Saturday: Premier League 13.45 Newcastle vs Chelsea. 16.00 Blackburn vs Swansea; Man. City vs Norwich; QPR vs WBA; Tottenham vs Bolton; Wigan vs Arsenal. 18.30 Aston Villa vs Man. Utd.
Sunday: Premier League 16.00 Everton vs Stoke City. 17.00 Wolves vs Sunderland.
Monday, Dec. 5: Premier League 21.00 Fulham vs Liverpool.

The Championship
Blackpool 2 - Birmingham 2
Brighton 2 - Coventry 1
Bristol City 2 - Southampton 0
Cardiff 1 - N. Forest 0
Crystal Palace 0 - Millwall 1
Doncaster 0 - Watford 0
Hull 2 - Burnley 3
Ipswich 2 - Reading 3
Leeds 1 - Barnsley 2
Peterborough 1 - M’boro 1
Portsmouth 1 - Leicester 1
West Ham 3 - Derby 1

Standings: Southampton 39; West Ham 37; Cardiff 34; M’boro 32; Leeds 28; Blackpool, Hull 27; Birmingham, Leicester, C. Palace, Brighton 26; Peterboro, Reading, Barnsley, Derby 24; Burnley 21; Portsmouth, Ipswich, Watford, N. Forest 20; Millwall, Bristol City 19; Coventry, Doncaster 13.

League One
Bournemouth 0 - Oldham 0
Bury 1 - Preston 0
Carlisle 1 - Colchester 0
Chesterfield 0 - Sheffield Utd1
Exeter 3 - Tranmere 0
Hartlepool 0 - Yeovil 1
MK Dons 4 - Wycombe 3
Notts County 3 - Scunthorpe 2
Rochdale 1 - Brentford 2
Sheffield Wed. 1 - Leyton Orient 0
Stevenage 0 - Walsall 0

Tomorrow
Charlton-Huddersfield - 20.45

Standings: Charlton Athletic 43; Sheffield Wed. 39; Huddersfield 38; MK Dons 36; Sheffield United 35; N. County 31; Brentford, Carlisle 29; Stevenage 28; Bury 27; Hartlepool, Tranmere Rovers, Oldham 26; Colchester, Bournemouth, Preston North End 23; Exeter 20; Leyton Orient 19; Scunthorpe United 18; Rochdale 17; Walsall, Yeovil Town 16; Wycombe Wanderers, Chesterfield 13.

League Two
Accrington 3 - Dagenham 0
Burton Albion 3 - AFC Wimbledon 2
Crewe 1 - Hereford 0
Gillingham 0 - Bradford 0
Oxford Utd 1 - Cheltenham 3
Plymouth 4 - Northampton 1
Rotherham 1 - Crawley Town 2
Shrewsbury 2 - Morecambe 0
Southend 1 - Bristol Rovers 1
Swindon 2 - Aldershot 0

Standings: Southend, Crawley 42; Cheltenham 38; Shrewsbury 37; Burton 35; Swindon 33; Gillingham 31; Morecambe 30; Oxford 29; Torquay 28; Rotherham 27; Port Vale, Wimbledon 26; Macclesfield, Crewe 25; Aldershot, Accrington 23; Bristol Rovers 22; Barnet 19; Hereford 17; Northampton 16; Bradford 15; Dagenham 13; Plymouth Argyle 12.

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