Premier League review:Manchester United produced a stunning fightback to come from 3-0 down and snatch a point in a 3-3 draw with Chelsea in a Premier League thriller at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
The champions looked dead and buried but two penalties from Wayne Rooney and a late equaliser from Javier Hernandez silenced the home fans.
Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas was left deflated afterwards and criticised referee Howard Webb for making some “strange decisions”.
“Of course, it’s not easy to take,” he said. “It’s a massive recovery for United. We had it in our hands and let it slip," he said. "There were some strange decisions today though. These things just keep happening. The first one is a penalty and I agree with it. The second is very unlucky.
“I’m not sure if Howard is trying to compensate for something.”
United boss Alex Ferguson disagreed with his opposite number, naturally, and even claimed his side should have been given another two spot-kicks.
“We had two penalties in the second half which were justified. I think we could have had four penalties,” said the Scot, who also complained that Blues debutant Gary Cahill should have been sent off for hauling down Danny Welbeck after 10 minutes.
“It’s a sending off. I don’t blame Howard Webb, I blame the assistant. I can’t understand that.”
Despite his grievances Ferguson reflected on a memorable recovery, although he agreed it still represented dropped points.
"It is two points dropped, but we played so well apart from the 10 mins after half-time," he said on Sky Sports 1. "It's not easy coming back from 3-0 down. That's a massive effort."
United, who missed the chance to draw level with neighbours Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, bossed the early exchanges and twice had penalty shouts denied by referee Webb. But Chelsea opened the scoring nine minutes before the break. Daniel Sturridge turned Patrice Evra before wriggling along the byline and sending in a cross that bounced in off Jonny Evans' chest.
Ferguson had mentioned United's freezing dressing room before the game and his side were caught cold at the start of the second half.
Fernando Torres's pinpoint cross found fellow Spaniard Juan Mata just outside the six-yard box and he smashed a brilliant first-time volley into the net.
It went from bad to worse for United soon after when David Luiz rose unmarked and his header bounced in off Rio Ferdinand's shoulder.
The Red Devils pulled one back when Sturridge barged into Evra in the Chelsea box and Rooney blasted in the spot-kick. And it was game on midway through the second half when the striker doubled his tally after Branislav Ivanovic was adjudged to have tripped Welbeck.
Chelsea looked as if they were going to hold on to put some daylight between themselves and their rivals for fourth place, but with six minutes left substitute Hernandez rose unmarked to head home Ryan Giggs' cross.
Mata nearly won it for the Blues at the death with a fine free-kick that was brilliantly turned away by the much-maligned David De Gea.
Earlier, Papiss Demba Cisse announced his arrival at Newcastlewith a stunning strike to earn his new side a 2-1 win over Aston Villaat St James' Park in the first of Sunday's Barclays Premier League games.
Robbie Keane cancelled out Demba Ba's 30th-minute opener in first-half stoppage time but debutant Cisse secure three points for the Magpies with a thunderous half-volley.
The Senegal striker chested down Jonas Gutierrez's cross and found the top left corner with a sweetly-struck shot 19 minutes from time.
Cisse could have had a second in the dying stages had Carlos Cuellar not got his studs to another well-taken volley from the Toon new-boy.
Magpies goalkeeper Tim Krul had kept his side in the contest early on, twice denying Darren Bent and, on the first occasion, recovering quickly to save from Stilyan Petrov on the follow-up.
That set the stage for Ba to sweep in Ryan Taylor's cross on the half-hour mark, although the provider was injured in the process and was stretchered off after a lengthy delay.
Villa went close to an equaliser when Stephen Ireland curled a shot narrowly wide while Cisse, Davide Santon and Ba all had chances to stretch the hosts' lead.
But Keane sent the teams into the break on level terms when he volleyed in Charles N'Zogbia's cross with the last kick of the half.
Cisse wasted a gilt-edged headed chance before his strike while Krul pulled off a point-blank save to keep out Gary Gardner's header as Villa pushed for another equaliser at the death.
