Manchester United Beats QPR 3-1 to Take Premier League Lead

Manchester United came from behind to move into first placee in English soccer’s Premier League and deny Queens Park Ranger its first win of the season.

Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher and Javier Hernandez scored in an eight-minute span of the second half for United’s 3-1 win at Old Trafford. Jamie Mackie scored for QPR, which today confirmed it had appointed Harry Redknapp to replace fired manager Mark Hughes.

West Brom won 4-2 at Sunderland to climb above Chelsea into third place, Wigan beat Reading 3-2, Stoke defeated Fulham 1-0, Norwich tied 1-1 at Everton, while Aston Villa and Arsenal played a 0-0 draw.

United is now two points ahead of defending champion Manchester City, which visits Chelsea tomorrow. The Red Devils are unbeaten in 11 Premier League meetings with QPR.

With Redknapp watching from the stands, Mackie gave the visitors a lead with a shot into the lower left corner early in the second half. Evans tied the game with a header in the 64th minute and Fletcher put United in front just four minutes later with another header.

Hernandez, who earlier came on as a substitute for Paul Scholes, made it 3-1 with a shot into the bottom corner in the 72nd minute.

Redknapp has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract in place of Hughes who was fired yesterday after QPR picked up just four points in its first 12 games.

Hat Trick

Zoltan Gera, Shane Long, Romelu Lukaku and Marc-Antoine Fortune scored as West Brom won its fourth straight match and moved two points ahead of Chelsea. Craig Gardener and Stephane Sessegnon scored for Sunderland, which lost for the third time in four league games.

Jordi Gomez clinched a second-half hat trick with a third goal coming in stoppage time as Wigan beat Reading for its second win in seven home matches this season.

Stoke remained unbeaten at home as Charlie Adam’s goal lifted the Potters past Fulham. Sebastien Bassong scored with a header in the final minute as Norwich, which beat Manchester United last week, drew with Everton to extend its unbeaten run to six matches.

Aston Villa’s tie with Arsenal moved it out of the three relegation spots at the bottom of the standings. Villa’s Andreas Weimann had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half and Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny tipped Brett Holman’s shot off the crossbar in the second half.

Liverpool is at Swansea, Newcastle visits Southampton and Tottenham hosts West Ham in tomorrow’s other games.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net.