LONDON — Manchester United belatedly rediscovered its famous fighting spirit by roaring back from behind to beat Stoke City 3-2 Saturday and re-energize their Premier League title defense. David Moyes's side trailed 2-1 at half-time and looked on course for a third successive home game without victory in the league, only for goals from Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez to secure a much-needed win. United remains eight points behind Arsenal, which won 2-0 at Crystal Palace to consolidate its position at the head of the table, but it has closed to within three points of the top four. Stoke took a fortuitous lead in the fourth minute at Old Trafford when Jonny Evans's attempted clearance from an Erik Pieters cross cannoned against the prone Peter Crouch and flew into the net. Robin van Persie equalized in the 43rd minute, tucking home after Asmir Begovic parried a Rooney header, only for Marko Arnautovic to restore the visitor's lead on the stroke of half-time with a superb free-kick. Stoke lost the influential Arnautovic to injury in the second half and United capitalized by turning the game around with a pair of goals in the space of three minutes. Rooney cleverly flicked a looping header over Begovic to equalize in the 78th minute before substitute Javier Hernandez completed the comeback with a back-post header from Patrice Evra's teasing cross. With Chelsea not in action until Sunday, when it hosts Manchester City, Liverpool took advantage to climb above it into second place, thanks to a glorious hat trick by Luis Suarez in a 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion. The Uruguayan broke the deadlock with a fine goal in the 12th minute, picking the ball up in a deep position, drifting past one defender and nutmegging another before drilling a low shot past Boaz Myhill. He added a second five minutes later with an improvised header from just inside the box and completed his first ever Anfield hat trick 10 minutes into the second half by nodding home a Steven Gerrard free-kick. James Morrison replied with a penalty in the 66th minute, but Daniel Sturridge restored Liverpool's three-goal advantage in style 13 minutes from time with an exquisite chip from the left-hand edge of the area. Earlier, Arsenal survived the dismissal of goalscorer Mikel Arteta to overcome Palace at Selhurst Park and preserve its status at the top of the standings on the 150th anniversary of the Football Association. Arteta put the visitors ahead with a 47th-minute penalty, but he was contentiously shown a straight red card with 25 minutes remaining for a last-man foul on former Arsenal man Marouane Chamakh. Wojciech Szczesny produced two stunning saves to thwart Palace, who parted company with manager Ian Holloway Wednesday, before Arsenal made sure of victory late on when Olivier Giroud headed home from Aaron Ramsey's dinked cross. Second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Leon Osman earned Everton a 2-0 win at Aston Villa, for whom Lukaku's Belgian international colleague Christian Benteke saw an early penalty pushed over the bar by Tim Howard. Norwich City dominated its home game with Cardiff City but had to settle for a 0-0 draw that kept Chris Hughton's side in the relegation zone. Bayern survives a scare Henrikh Mkhitaryan inspired Borussia Dortmund to a 3-1 win at Schalke in the Bundesliga Saturday, while Bayern Munich survived a scare to beat Hertha Berlin 3-2. Bayern is in top spot on 26 points, one ahead of Dortmund. Mkhitaryan was involved in all three goals after the 143rd Ruhr derby was delayed due to flares set off in the Dortmund fans' stand. The Armenian midfielder sent through Marco Reus who crossed for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score in the 14th. Mkhitaryan set up Nuri Sahin's fine strike in the 51st, and led the counterattack for Jakub Blaszczykowski to seal the result in the 74th, 12 minutes after Schalke substitute Max Meyer pulled one back. Bayern had to come from behind to win, as did Bayer Leverkusen to beat Augsburg 2-1. Marseille beaten Marseille coach Elie Baup is under increasing pressure after his side's third successive defeat, losing 3-2 at home to Reims Saturday following a dramatic finale. Baup's side appeared to have come back from two goals down to rescue a draw when Andre-Pierre Gignac leveled four minutes from time. But Prince Oniangue was left completely unmarked to head home the winner in stoppage time. Mainz defeated Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 and nine-man Hannover lost 4-1 to Hoffenheim. — Agencies
