Wayne Rooney ended his eight-game Premier League scoring drought with a brace as Manchester United climbed back above Arsenal into third with a 2-0 victory against Sunderland yesterday.

United were booed during stages of another underwhelming first half at Old Trafford but Rooney, restored to his favoured forward position, dispatched a 66th-minute penalty after Radamel Falcao was impeded by John O’Shea.

Fellow former United man Wes Brown was wrongly shown the red card instead of O’Shea despite the remonstrations of Sunderland’s players before Rooney added his second with a simple finish in the 84th minute.

“It’s great to score but the three points are the most important thing after last week (a 2-1 loss to Swansea City),” Rooney said.

“We knew Sunderland would be dogged. They defended well, but we were patient. It was a good performance.

“I think there are a lot of teams in a good run of form and there’s not much difference between the top teams. We hope that, come the end of the season, we’re in the right position.”

United’s top-four rivals Southampton continued their recent slump after they were beaten 1-0 at improving West Brom courtesy of Saido Berahino’s early goal.

Earlier Glenn Murray scored twice and was sent off as resurgent Crystal Palace registered a 3-1 Premier League win at a toothless West Ham to heap more woes on the stuttering east London side, who began the season brightly.

Newcastle United extended Aston Villa’s winless Premier League run to 12 games with a 1-0 victory at St James’ Park thanks to Papiss Cisse’s goal.

Swansea City climbed to eighth after Kieran Trippier’s own goal in a 1-0 win at struggling Burnley while Stoke City were 1-0 victors at home against Hull City thanks to a Peter Crouch header.

Vulnerable United

Not for the first time this season, Manchester United’s back three looked vulnerable and were indebted to goalkeeper David de Gea, who tipped Connor Wickham’s early shot round the post before the Spaniard denied Jermain Defoe.

A prolonged period of United possession yielded no attacking enterprise and ended with a ball back to De Gea, which was met by widespread boos and groans from a disgruntled Old Trafford crowd.

Moments later Ashley Young’s low cross clipped the bar via a sizeable deflection off O’Shea before the United wingback fired a shot narrowly past the far post.

After the break, more sloppy United play was greeted with groans though their side finally opened the scoring when Falcao turned brilliantly to win a penalty after he was impeded by O’Shea.

Referee Roger East mistakenly showed Brown the red card before Rooney calmly converted the penalty.

Adnan Januzaj, a half-time substitute for an anonymous Angel di Maria, made a huge impact following his introduction and his low shot was parried by Costel Pantilimon allowing Rooney to apply a simple finish to secure the points.

Southampton had won one of their previous four league games to slip out of the top four and they found themselves behind after Berahino’s excellent strike in the second minute.

The visitors commanded much of the possession but too many of their players cut frustrated figures as they failed to break down a resolute West Brom side.

Morgan Schneiderlin split the hosts’ defence with a sublime ball midway through the half but Sadio Mane wasted the opportunity with a wild shot.

West Brom’s lively striker Berahino, who has 17 goals in all competitions this season, was substituted with an apparent injury.

Southampton’s Graziano Pelle failed to convert a glaring opportunity with the goal beckoning midway through the second period.

Second-placed champions Manchester City visit Liverpool today when Arsenal, two points behind United, host Everton.

Results and standings

Premier League

Burnley 0
Swansea 1
Trippier 65og;

HT: 0-0. Att: 17,388.

Man. United 2
Rooney 66 pen, 84;
Sunderland 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 75,344.
Red card: Brown (S) 64.

Newcastle 1
Cisse 37;
Aston Villa 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 51,573.

Stoke City 1
Crouch 71;
Hull City 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 26,473.

West Brom 1
Berahino 2;
Southampton 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 25,303.

West Ham 1
Valencia 76;
C. Palace 3
Murray 41, 63; Dann 51;

HT: 0-1. Att: 34,857.
Red card: Murray (CP) 69.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	26	18	6	2	56	22	60
Man. City	26	16	7	3	56	25	55
Man. United	27	14	8	5	46	26	50
Arsenal	26	14	6	6	49	29	48
S’thampton	27	14	4	9	38	20	46
Liverpool	26	13	6	7	38	29	45
Tottenham	26	13	5	8	41	36	44
Swansea	27	11	7	9	31	34	40
West Ham	27	10	9	8	39	33	39
Stoke City	27	11	6	10	31	34	39
Newcastle	27	9	8	10	32	42	35
C. Palace	27	7	9	11	31	38	30
West Brom	27	7	9	11	25	34	30
Everton	26	6	10	10	33	37	28
Hull City	27	6	8	13	25	36	26
Sunderland	27	4	13	10	22	38	25
QPR	26	6	4	16	27	45	22
Burnley	27	4	10	13	25	45	22
Aston Villa	27	5	7	15	13	37	22
Leicester	26	4	6	16	24	42	18

Playing today
Arsenal vs Everton - 15:05
Liverpool vs Man. City - 13:00

Next fixtures

Tuesday: 20.45 Aston Villa vs West Brom; Hull vs Sunderland; Southampton vs Crystal Palace.

Wednesday: 20.45 Man. City vs Leicester; Newcastle vs Man. United; QPR vs Arsenal; Stoke vs Everton; Tottenham vs Swansea; West Ham vs Chelsea. 21.00 Liverpool vs Burnley.

Top scorers
17 goals: Costa (Chelsea), Aguero (Manchester City).
14 goals: Austin (QPR); Kane (Spurs)
12 goals: Sanchez (Arsenal)
11 goals: Cisse (Newcastle), Berahino (West Brom).
10 goals: Van Persie, Rooney (Man. United).

• Watford reaffirmed their automatic Championship promotion hopes by hitting back from two goals down to condemn Leeds to a second successive league defeat and close the gap on overnight leaders Derby. Billy Sharp struck an early opener for Leeds on his return to the side and Rudy Austin added a second, but Troy Deeney reduced the deficit shortly before the interval and Matej Vydra fired his ninth and 10th goals of the season as Watford won 3-2 to climb within three points of Derby. Steve McClaren’s side went behind to first-half goals from Nikolay Bodurov and Cauley Woodrow at Fulham and never recovered, while Middlesbrough lost by the same 2-0 scoreline at Sheffield Wednesday.

The Championship
Birmingham 1 - Brentford 0
Blackpool 1 - Wigan 3
Bolton 1 - Brighton 0
Bournemouth 0 - Blackburn 0
Cardiff 0 - Wolves1
Charlton 3 - Huddersfield 0
Fulham 2 - Derby County 0
Leeds United 2 - Watford 3
Reading 0 - Nottm Forest 3
Rotherham 2 - Millwall 1
Sheffield Wed. 2 - M’boro 0

Playing today:
Norwich vs Ipswich - 15:05

Standings: Derby 65; Middlesbrough 63; Watford 62; Bournemouth, Ipswich 60; Norwich 59; Brentford 58; Wolves 57; N. Forest 50; Sheffield Wednesday 46; Blackburn 45; Charlton, Birmingham, Huddersfield 42; Cardiff, Leeds 41; Bolton, Reading 40; Fulham 39; Brighton, Rotherham 37; Millwall 31; Wigan 28; Blackpool 22.

League One
Bristol City 1 - Rochdale 0
Chesterfield 3 - Fleetwood 0
Coventry 2 - MK Dons 1
Crawley 1 - Sheffield Utd 1
Crewe 0 - Swindon 0
Doncaster 2 - Colchester 0
Gillingham 0 - Barnsley 1
Notts County 0 - Port Vale 1
Oldham 0 - Preston 4
Peterborough 2 - Bradford 0
Scunthorpe 1 - Yeovil 1
Walsall 0 - Leyton Orient 2

Standings: Bristol City 70; MK Dons, Preston 62; Swindon 61; Sheffield Utd 53; Doncaster 48; Chesterfield, Bradford, Port Vale 45; Peterborough, Fleetwood, Barnsley 44; Oldham 43; Gillingham 42; Rochdale, Walsall, Scunthorpe 41; Crewe 39; Notts County 38; Coventry 36; L. Orient 35; Colchester, Crawley 34; Yeovil 30.

League Two
Burton 0 - Newport 1
Cheltenham 2 - Tranmere 0
Hartlepool 1 - Wimbledon 0
Luton 2 - Accrington 0
Mansfield 2 - Dagenham 1
Morecambe 0 - Cambridge 2
Plymouth 0 - Bury 2
Portsmouth 0 - Oxford 0
Shrewsbury 1 - Northampton 2
Southend 2 - Carlisle 0
Wycombe 2 - Stevenage 2
York 0 - Exeter 0

Standings: Burton 64; Shrewsbury 61; Wycombe 60; Luton 58; Southend 57; Bury 55; Newport 53; Plymouth 52; Stevenage 49; Northampton 47; Wimbledon 45; Portsmouth, Morecambe, Exeter 44; Accrington 43; Cambridge 41; Oxford, Mansfield 38; Dagenham 37; Tranmere, Cheltenham 34; York, Carlisle 33; Hartlepool 27.