Michael Owen’s 200th career goal in England rescued Manchester United from defeat as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were held to a 2-2 draw by Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium yesterday.
Martin Petrov’s first goal in a Bolton shirt looked to have earned the hosts a famous victory, before substitute Owen popped up with a 74th-minute equalizer.
United went into the game knowing that victory would take them to within a point of leaders Chelsea, but it required a brilliant piece of individual skill from Nani to cancel out Zat Knight’s early opener in what was an absorbing contest.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bolton made the early breakthrough when Knight, who had only scored three top flight goals in three years, got ahead of Johnny Evans to divert the ball over the line following a corner.
It was a disastrous start by Ferguson’s team, whose defending has come under the microscope after conceding seven times in their previous five league outings.
In what was a frantic start, United responded with efforts by Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher, but neither could beat Jussi Jaaskelainen, the Finland goalkeeper who was returning from a three-match suspension.
United were clearly unsettled and it required a brilliant individual run by Nani for them to draw level midway through the first half. The Portuguese winger picked up a loose ball inside his own half, before embarking on a powerful run in which he motored past three players, before beating Jaaskelainen with a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
United ended the half strongly, Wayne Rooney flashing a powerful effort narrowly over the bar after creating space for himself on the edge of the area, but Bolton were by no means overawed and it required a timely challenge by Fletcher to deny Elmander after the Swedish striker had burst through the visitors defense.
The frustration was beginning to show. Rooney, subdued by his usual standards, lasted just 16 minutes of the second half before he was replaced by Federico Macheda, while a hamstring problem brought Giggs’ afternoon to a premature end.
Dimitar Berbatov, six goals in his previous five league outings, forced a fine save from Jaaskelainen, before Petrov’s excellent 67th-minute finish left home fans dreaming of a first win over United since 2007. The Bulgarian produced a sweet finish after being teed up by Kevin Davies following great vision from Lee Chung-yong, but Bolton were unable to hang on to their lead and three minutes after replacing Fletcher, Owen equalized with a clever back header following Nani’s free-kick — a thrilling end to a great game.
On Saturday, champions Chelsea suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season as a Carlos Tevez goal handed Manchester City a 1-0 victory at Eastlands.
In later games, second-placed Arsenal missed the opportunity to close the gap on Chelsea to one point after they suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates.
The Baggies were well worth their victory, seeing a first-half Chris Brunt penalty saved by Manuel Almunia before opening up a 3-0 lead with goals from Peter Odemwingie, Gonzalo Jara and former Arsenal winger Jerome Thomas.
Arsenal fought back through two late goals from Samir Nasri, but it was too little, too late for Arsene Wenger’s men.
Wenger admitted his lackluster side had been well-beaten.
“We were poor, we deserved to lose the game because we were just not up for it,” Wenger said. “Not one of our players was at his usual level. We had a lack of concentration today and we paid for it. We made mistake after mistake defensively.”
At Anfield, Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard rescued his team from what would have been another embarrassing home defeat as Roy Hodgson’s men scrambled a 2-2 draw against Sunderland.
Gerrard crashed in a 64th-minute header to give them a share of the points after two goals from Darren Bent had given the Black Cats a 2-1 lead, but the major talking point was a controversial Dirk Kuyt goal that had given Liverpool the lead.
After referee Stuart Atwell awarded Sunderland a free-kick, Black Cats defender Michael Turner tapped the ball back toward his own goal as if to suggest to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet that he should take it.
However, Fernando Torres pounced — and with Atwell ruling the ball was live — raced past Turner and passed to Kuyt to slide past the completely bewildered Mignolet, sparking angry protests from Sunderland’s players.
“Liverpool have got away with something today and for me it’s unjust, it’s unsportsmanlike, it’s not in the rules of the game,” Sunderland boss Steve Bruce said afterwards. “I think everybody in the ground, including most of the Liverpool team, knew that Michael Turner didn’t take the free-kick.”
However, it was another unconvincing performance by the Reds, who had suffered a humiliating League Cup defeat to lowly Northampton Town in midweek.
Basement club West Ham United, meanwhile, made it an unhappy return for former manager and player Harry Redknapp, a 29th-minute Frederic Piquionne goal giving the Hammers their first win of the season in a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
The victory lifted West Ham off the bottom of the table at the expense of Everton, who could only manage a 0-0 draw in their visit to Fulham.
Everton, knocked out of the League Cup in midweek by Brentford, are still searching for their first win of the season, with three points from six games.
Blackpool substitute Matt Phillips looked to have secured a share of the points for the Tangerines after scoring an 85th-minute equalizer for the newly-promoted minnows in their match at home to Blackburn Rovers, who had taken the lead when Charlie Adam headed into his own net on 20 minutes, but a Brett Emerton goal in the third minute of stoppage-time snaffled a 2-1 victory for Rovers.
In the day’s other game, Birmingham City were held to a 0-0 draw by Wigan Athletic at St Andrews.
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