Steven Gerrard’s future at Liverpool may be in doubt but he turned back the clock to score in a 3-1 victory at bottom side Leicester City in the Premier League yesterday.

Manchester United maintained their recent improvement with a fourth successive league win, beating Stoke City 2-1 at Old Trafford with a Marouane Fellaini header and Juan Mata freekick either side of a Steven Nzonzi goal for Stoke.

David de Gea guaranteed United held on to the points with two superb saves late in the game.

United stay fourth but have 25 points, eight behind leaders Chelsea who host Tottenham Hotspur tonight, while Liverpool have climbed to eighth place with 20 points.

West Ham United remain fifth, a point behind United, after a 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion, who have now lost their last four matches. James Tomkins headed the winner for the Hammers in first half stoppage time.

Liverpool captain Gerrard, 34, left out of the starting line-up on Saturday, was back in the team at Leicester where he rifled home a poor clearance from captain Wes Morgan to turn the balance of the match the Merseysiders’ way in the 54th minute.

They had fallen behind when Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet conceded an own goal after 22 minutes before a 26th minute Adam Lallana equaliser for the visitors.

Leicester were reduced to 10 men when Morgan, who scored an own goal against QPR on Saturday, was sent off for a foul on Rickie Lambert after 63 minutes and they conceded a third when Jordan Henderson scored after 83 minutes.

Aston Villa earned a precious three points with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace where Christian Benteke’s goal ended a run of nine games without a victory for Paul Lambert’s side.

Queens Park Rangers crashed to a seventh successive away league defeat and slipped to one off the bottom when they were beaten 2-0 at Swansea City, who won with late goals from Ki Sung-yueng and Wayne Routledge to move up to sixth on 22 points.

Burnley climbed out of the relegation zone when they stretched their unbeaten run to four matches with a 1-1 draw at home to mid-table Newcastle.

George Boyd put Burnley ahead after 34 minutes with a left foot shot from outside the box and Papiss Cisse equalised three minutes into the second half.

Burnley have 12 points above Hull City and QPR on 11, with Leicester propping up the table with 10 points from 14 games.

While Chelsea play Spurs at Stamford Bridge today, second-placed Manchester City are at Sunderland and Southampton, who are third, visit Arsenal where they won 2-1 in the Capital One (League) Cup in September.

Results

Premier League

Burnley 1
Boyd 34;
Newcastle 1
Cisse 48;

HT: 1-0. Att: 19,000.

Leicester 1
Mignolet 22og;
Liverpool 3
Lallana 26; Gerrard 54; Henderson 83;

HT: 1-1. Att: 32,000.
Red card: Morgan (L) 63.

Man. United 2
Fellaini 21; Mata 59;
Stoke 1
N’Zonzi 39;

HT: 1-1. Att: 75,000.

Swansea 2
Ki 78; Routledge 83;
QPR 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 20,000.

C. Palace 0
Aston Villa 1
Benteke 32;

HT: 0-1. Att: 24,000.

West Brom 1
Dawson 10;
West Ham 2
Nolan 35; Tomkins 45;

HT: 1-2. Att: 25,000.

League One
Barnsley vs Doncaster - 1-1
Sheffield Utd vs MK Dons - 0-1