Newcastle 1-2 Manchester United

Manchester United survived the shock of conceding an early goal at Newcastle to come from behind and secure a win that tightens their grip on the Premier League title race. A rare blunder from keeper Edwin van der Sar gave Peter Lovenkrands the opportunity to give Newcastle the lead after nine minutes when he dropped a tame shot from Jonas Gutierrez. But Wayne Rooney equalised on the turn 11 minutes later and Ryan Taylor's mistake allowed Ji-Sung Park to set up Dimitar Berbatov for a simple strike in the 56th minute that leaves United seven points clear of Chelsea and Liverpool with a game in hand. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will acknowledge that this was not a performance from the top drawer and there were moments when Newcastle - particularly Obafemi Martins - rattled his side's normally composed rearguard. But with Rooney leading from the front, scoring the equaliser and helping to set up Berbatov's winner with a typical piece of quick thinking, Manchester United once again proved they have the players to grind out victories even when they are not at their best. And if victories for Chelsea and Liverpool on Tuesday briefly rekindled their hopes of overhauling Manchester United, this victory once again underlined that Ferguson's side are now overwhelming favourites to retain their crown. The defeat leaves Newcastle hovering just above the bottom three with a tough sequence of fixtures to come, but they will take heart from their first-half display in particular, when they gave Manchester United real moments of concern.