Summary Manchester United beat Southampton 2-1 to restore their 7-point lead at the top of Premier League.
Wayne Rooney s double helped Manchester United restore their seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League as they came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Southampton took a shock third minute lead when Michael Carrick s poor back-pass left David de Gea in trouble, with Jay Rodriguez dispossessing the goalkeeper before rolling the ball into the net.
However, United were only behind for five minutes with Rooney equalising after the England striker was played in by Shinji Kagawa.
And Rooney made it 2-1 in the 27th minute after a Robin van Persie free-kick was headed back across goal by Patrice Evra.
United had the ball in the Saints net for a third time but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Elsewhere, Chelsea blew a 2-0 lead as Reading climbed out of the bottom three after supersub Adam Le Fondre scored two late goals in a 2-2 draw.
The Blues, held to a draw by third-tier Brentford in the FA Cup, had to wait until first-half stoppage-time before taking the lead at the Madejski Stadium, with a neat pass from Fernando Torres setting up his fellow Spaniard Juan Mata, who drilled a low shot into the net.
Frank Lampard, repeatedly linked with a move away from Chelsea despite impressing yet again this term, made it 2-0 in the 66th minute when he rose above the Royals defence to head in a corner.
But Le Fondre increased the pressure on Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez with two well-struck goals in the final three minutes.
Arsenal also came from 2-0 behind at home to Liverpool to force a 2-2 draw that did little for the top four ambitions of either club.
Liverpool needed just five minutes to take the lead at the Emirates after a series of mistakes involving Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen and Aaron Ramsey created a chance for Daniel Sturridge, whose shot was saved.
But when the ball broke to fellow striker Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan swept his effort past Wojciech Szczesny.
More bad Arsenal defending allowed Jordan Henderson to burst into the penalty area before his initial shot was blocked only for the midfielder to score on the follow-up in the 60th minute.
But within a few minutes Arsenal scored twice.
Olivier Giroud headed in Jack Wilshere s free-kick and the Frenchman then turned provider for Theo Walcott, who equalised with a powerful shot.
