Robin van Persie hit a dramatic hat-trick as Manchester United fought back to win 3-2 at Southampton in Alex Ferguson’s 1,000th league game in charge, while Arsenal piled on the misery for struggling Liverpool with a 2-0 victory at Anfield yesterday.
Van Persie looked like ruining Ferguson’s landmark celebrations when he missed a penalty with United trailing 2-1 midway through the second half at St Mary’s.
But the Dutch forward showed why Ferguson splashed out £24 million to sign him from Arsenal last month with two clinical finishes in the final three minutes to snatch the points from Southampton’s grasp.
“Van Persie has come up with three important goals. He’s got four now in two starts, it’s a great statistic,” Ferguson said.
“But I thought (substitute) Paul Scholes changed the game.
“His vision and passing helped us get complete control.”
Rickie Lambert had headed Southampton into the lead from Jason Puncheon’s 16th minute cross, but Van Persie equalised seven minutes later with a fine strike after Nathaniel Clyne slipped while trying to reach Antonio Valencia’s cross.
Southampton regained the lead 10 minutes after half-time when midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin directed a diving header past United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
Van Persie won a penalty when Jos Hooiveld fouled him in the 69th minute, but Kelvin Davis saved the Dutchman’s chipped spot-kick.
Determined to make amends for that blunder, Van Persie bagged the 87th minute equaliser with a close-range finish before heading the winner from Nani’s corner in stoppage-time.
Earlier in the afternoon, Arsenal ended their goal drought in emphatic fashion as Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla inspired an impressive 2-0 win at Liverpool.
Arsene Wenger’s side had drawn a blank in their first two Premier League matches as they struggled to adapt to life without Van Persie.
But the Gunners were back on target at Anfield thanks to two of Wenger’s pre-season signings.
Podolski netted his first goal for the club in the first half to end Arsenal’s barren run of 211 scoreless minutes. Then, Spanish midfielder Cazorla bagged his first Gunners goal in the second half with a low shot that goalkeeper Jose Reina should have saved.
That was more than enough to clinch Arsenal’s first win of the season and leave struggling Liverpool with just one point from their first three matches.
After Liverpool missed out on long-term transfer target Clint Dempsey and failed to make any other signings on deadline day, this lacklustre display was a painful end to a dispiriting week for Reds manager Brendan Rodgers.
“The sharpness gets better from game to game. Overall we looked solid,” Wenger said.
“We missed opportunities on the counter-attack at the start of the game but we had a convincing team performance.”
In the day’s other game, Aston Villa earned their first point under new boss Paul Lambert with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle.
Villa had lost the first two matches of Lambert’s reign, but they took the lead at St James’s Park through Ciaran Clark’s 22nd minute header.
French midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa salvaged a draw for Newcastle with a brilliant strike in the 59th minute.
Summaries
Liverpool 0
Arsenal 2
Podolski 31; Cazorla 68;
HT: 0-1. Att: 44,932.
Newcastle 1
Ben Arfa 59;
Aston Villa 1
Clark 22;
HT: 0-1. Att: 48,245.
Southampton 2
Lambert 16; Schneiderlin 55;
Man. United 3
Van Persie 23,87,90;
HT: 1-1. Att: 31,609.
Missed penalty: Van Persie (MU) 69.
Standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Chelsea | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 9 |
| Swansea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 7 |
| West Brom | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Man. City | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 7 |
| Man. United | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Everton | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| West Ham | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Arsenal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Wigan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Newcastle | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Fulham | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| Stoke City | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Sunderland | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Tottenham | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Norwich | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Reading | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Aston Villa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Liverpool | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| QPR | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
| Southampton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
Next fixtures
Saturday, September 15: 13.45 Norwich vs West Ham. 16.00 Arsenal vs Southamptoin; Aston Villa vs Swansea; Fulham vs WBA; Man. United vs Wigan; QPR vs Chelsea; Stoke vs Man. City. 18.30 Sunderland vs Liverpool.
Sunday, September 16: 17.00 Reading vs Tottenham.
Monday, September 17: 21.00 Everton vs Newcastle.
The Championship
Cardiff vs Wolves - 3-1
League One
Preston vs Swindon - 4-1