London: Manchester United ended leader Chelsea's unbeaten start to the Premier League season and moved a point behind its opponent after benefiting from key refereeing decisions to win 3-2 on Sunday. After United threw away a two-goal lead when Juan Mata and Ramires scored, Chelsea had Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres sent off.
And referee Mark Clattenburg then allowed Javier Hernandez's goal to count in the 75th minute despite the United striker appearing to be in an offside position. "He's always going to be a threat to defenders and he's got the winning goal in an important game," United manager Alex Ferguson said after his team's first league win at Chelsea since April 2002. "It's always hard to come here and it's hard to get decisions here. Over the last few years there have been some shocking decisions against us, and I think everyone knows that. But today, if we did get a little break, I think we deserved it."
United climbed back above third-place neighbor Manchester City on goal difference, while Tottenham returned to fourth place with a 2-1 victory at Southampton. At Stamford Bridge, United looked set to storm to victory after scoring twice in the opening 12 minutes. Chelsea defender David Luiz inadvertently turned the ball into his own net in the fourth minute after Robin van Persie's shot had rebounded off the post.
Van Persie then found the net himself, sweeping home from Antonio Valencia's cross after United again tore through Chelsea down the right flank. United goalkeeper David de Gea pulled off a string of saves to prevent Chelsea gaining a foothold in the game, but the hosts' pressure paid off when Mata curled in a free kick just before the break. Mata helped to set up Chelsea's equalizer eight minutes into the second half. His cross was headed on by Torres to Oscar, who chipped the ball across to Ramires and the Brazilian headed Chelsea level.
However, Chelsea's momentum was halted when Ivanovic was red-carded for tripping Ashley Young and worse followed when Fernando Torres appeared to have been felled by Jonny Evans but was instead shown a second yellow card for diving. The home crowd roared its disapproval and then watched on as Hernandez, on as a substitute for Tom Cleverley, poked home United's winner from close range.
The game seemed to have swung Chelsea's way but Ivanovic was dismissed for an inadvertent trip on Young and a few minutes later Torres tumbled as he raced through but, to his horror, got up to see a red card being waved at him. United manager Alex Ferguson and counterpart Roberto Di Matteo exchanged heated words on the touchline as Torres stormed off.
"They say that the winning goal came from an offside, so that's the bit of luck I think we got," Ferguson said. "We started the game so well, absolutely brilliant, and then just 10 minutes from halftime we lost our way a bit. I couldn't wait for halftime, to be honest with you.
"But they got that second goal after halftime and, at that moment, we had to start performing properly, and I think we did better then."####
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