United tied at the top after Blues slip
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Wayne Rooney made his return for Manchester United as it beat nine-man Wigan Athletic 2-0 on Saturday to capitalize on defeats for English Premier league title rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.
Goals by Patrice Evra and Javier Hernandez put United level on 28 points with leader Chelsea which lost consecutive league games for the first time in more than four years, going down 0-1 at Birmingham City which scored with its only effort on target.
Arsenal wasted the chance to go top in the early game when it blew a two-goal lead against Tottenham Hotspur to lose 2-3 at The Emirates. The Gunners, who had not lost at home in the league to their arch-rivals since 1993, are third on 26 points.
Dark horses Bolton Wanderers are fourth on 22 points, above Manchester City and Spurs on goal difference, after thrashing Newcastle United 5-1. City was visiting Fulham yesterday.
Also, Glen Johnson, Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez scored to give Liverpool a 3-0 win over West Ham United that kept the Hammers bottom of the standings.
Wigan and 19th-place Wolverhampton Wanderers, which lost 1-2 at Blackpool, are the other teams in the relegation zone.
Stoke City won 3-0 in the day's other game to move level on 19 points with seventh-place Sunderland, which hosts Everton today.
Rooney got a mixed reception from the Old Trafford fans when he came on in the second half to make his first appearance since signing a lucrative new contract in October after stating he wanted to leave the club because it did not match his ambition.
The England striker, who has since been recovering from an ankle injury in Dubai, looked lively but was unable to get on the scoresheet despite Wigan losing Antolin Alcaraz and Hugo Rodallega to red cards in quick succession after an hour.
Evra headed United in front from Park Ji-sung's cross on the stroke of halftime and Hernandez, who also came off the bench, sealed the points with another header after 77 minutes.
Rooney went close with a header as he searched in vain for his first United goal from open play this season.
"We are yet to hit our best form and normally we do that in the second half of the season so that can't come soon enough," Ferguson, whose side is still unbeaten in the league this season, said.
Lee Bowyer's goal lifted Birmingham out of the bottom three and completed a terrible week for champion Chelsea, which lost 0-3 at home to Sunderland last week and is struggling without injured skipper John Terry.
Bowyer scored in the 17th and despite intense pressure the visitors were unable to reply as Birmingham held on for its first home win against Chelsea since 1980.
In Germany, Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund rallied to win 2-1 at SC Freiburg for a record seventh straight away victory and Bayer Leverkusen held Bayern Munich 1-1 on Saturday.
The draw dropped Leverkusen to third place, while Mainz reclaimed the second spot by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-2, coming from behind to snap a three-game losing streak with two decisive goals from substitute Sami Allagui late in the match.
Raul Gonzalez scored a hat trick in Schalke's 4-0 rout of Werder Bremen.
Dortmund fell behind to an own goal by defender Mats Hummels but also won on an own goal, by Mensur Mujdza in the 78th, three minutes after substitute Robert Lewandowski tied the match.
Dortmund now has 34 points, seven more than Mainz and nine ahead of Leverkusen.
Bayern, the defending champion, remained eighth, 14 points off the lead.
