Man United join Chelsea at the top

LONDON (AP):

Manchester United joined Chelsea at the top of the Premier League yesterday when the defending champions lost 1-0 at Birmingham.

While Patrice Evra and Javier Hernandez maintained United's unbeaten start with a goal each in a 2-0 win over Wigan, Chelsea conceded a 17th-minute goal to Lee Bowyer to lose consecutive league matches for the first time since the end of the 2005-06 season.

Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead and a chance to take sole possession of top spot when they lost 3-2 to Tottenham, 17 years after they last lost at home to their fierce north London rivals.

Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul ended Spurs' embarrassing 68-match run without an away win against the established powers of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Arsenal dropped to third place but Tottenham remained outside the Champions League qualifying berths in sixth. Bolton took fourth on goal difference from Manchester City and Spurs with a 5-1 hammering of Newcastle.

"If you had said at the start of the day, 'Would you take being joint top of the league?' I would have said 'Yes,'" United manager Alex Ferguson said. "We know that come the second half of the season we will definitely get better."

Evra headed in a 45th-minute cross for his first goal in over three years before Wayne Rooney's appearance as a 57th-minute substitute further lifted United.

Players sent off

Wigan's Antolin Alcaraz and Hugo Rodallega were sent off within three minutes of each other - the captain for a second yellow card and Rodallega for a two-footed foul on Rafael da Silva - before Hernandez came on to score his seventh goal of the season with a diving header.

Rooney was greeted mostly by cheers in his first appearance since limping out of an October-16 match against Bolton with an ankle injury. A few fans jeered the England striker following last month's retracted threat to quit United.

Tottenham are four points behind Arsenal, but Bolton have a superior goal difference after two goals by Johan Elmander, two penalties by Kevin Davies and an effort by South Korea midfielder Lee Chung-yong.

Elmander shares the lead in Premier League scoring with eight goals, the same as Andy Carroll - the scorer of Newcastle's lone strike.

Also yesterday Liverpool beat last-place West Ham 3-0. Wigan and 19th-place Wolverhampton Wanderers, who lost 2-1 at Blackpool, are the other teams in the relegation zone.

Stoke won 3-0 in the day's other game to tie at 19 points with seventh-place Sunderland, who host Everton tomorrow.