Man Utd survive huge scare

LONDON. — Wayne Rooney hailed a “massive result” and believes champions Manchester United are ready to “surprise a few people” after sealing a fifth consecutive win with a 3-2 comeback victory at Hull.  
Theo Walcott’s brace and a strike from the returning Lukas Podolski saw Arsenal make the ideal start to a pivotal festive period at West Ham.

Chelsea stayed in contention at the top of the Barclays Premier League with a slender 1-0 win over Swansea at Stamford Bridge which left Jose Mourinho frustrated by familiar failings in front of goal.

Eden Hazard was arguably the only one of Chelsea’s four starting attacking players to emerge with any credit in attack — Oscar’s defensive work rate earned him a pass mark — as Mourinho was again left to bemoan his side’s lack of cutting edge.

The impressive Hazard gave Chelsea an interval lead, but Samuel Eto’o spurned chances to double the advantage either side of half-time.
With three Barclays Premier League matches in six days before facing rivals Tottenham in the FA Cup, anything but victory in east London would have been a huge blow for the Gunners.

It was a task Arsene Wenger’s men responded to manfully, recovering from going a goal down against the run of play to triumph 3-1 at Upton Park.

This was not a victory without worrying moments, though, with Carlton Cole making the most of a Wojciech Szczesny mistake to put the Hammers ahead moments into the second half.

It began a spell of pressure that belied West Ham’s insipid first-half display, but it was brought to an abrupt end when Walcott’s shot somehow evaded Adrian.

The England forward then headed home three minutes later to turn the game on its head, with substitute Podolski wrapping up victory on his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in August.

United were 2-0 down inside 13 minutes after sloppy defending handed goals to James Chester and David Meyler.
However, they recovered to pull the scoreline back to 2-2 by half-time, with a header from Chris Smalling and a brilliant volley from Rooney — who became only the second player after Thierry Henry to score 150 Premier League goals for a single club.

United, who finished the game with 10 men following the dismissal of Antonio Valencia late on, sealed the win through a Chester own goal.

David Moyes’ side are now just three points off the Champions League places and have cut the gap between themselves and the top of the league to five points, although all their rivals are still to play this afternoon.

Just a couple of weeks ago, United found themselves 13 points off the pace but three Premier League wins on the spin may have placed the Champions back into contention.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Rooney said: “I think we had some poor results at the start of the season but we are starting to show some real quality.

“In the last few weeks, we are having a go.
“We are working hard, we are fighting for each other and we are ready for the challenge. Hopefully, we can surprise a few people.”
“The ball bounced nicely for me and I had a go,” Rooney continued, “It was a big goal for us at a big time in the game.

“We didn’t start good enough today. At 2-0 down, we knew that we had to dig deep and show our fighting spirit. We’ve done that and that was a massive result for us.

“It was poor defending for the two goals. It was probably my fault for the first, I let James Chester go and then there was another sloppy goal.

“We had to come back and get an early goal after they scored the two. It was a massive result for us today.”
Newcastle striker Loic Remy ended his goal-drought as nine-man Stoke suffered a miserable Boxing Day trip to Tyneside.

The Frenchman emerged from a five-game barren run with a double in a remarkable 5-1 win which saw Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson pick up red cards, Potters manager Mark Hughes sent to the stands, two goals and a saved penalty before the half-time whistle had sounded.

Oussama Assaidi had fired the visitors into a 29th-minute lead with a superb curling effort as Alan Pardew’s side failed to hit the heights until a dramatic conclusion to the first half.

But Whelan departed prematurely five minutes before the break for a second bookable offence, and Wilson joined him within three minutes for hauling down Remy inside the box.

The Frenchman saw his spot-kicked saved by goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, but dragged his side back into the game seconds later with a deflected effort.

However, the home side ran riot after the restart as Yoan Gouffran, with his fifth goal in as many home games, Remy, Yohan Cabaye and substitute Papiss Cisse secured a seventh Barclays Premier League win in nine attempts for the Magpies in front of a crowd of 51 665. — Mailonline.