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Rooney: celebrates with Robin van Persie. Jon Super/AP/Press Association Images
Premier League

Rooney on the double as Manchester United go 7 points clear

Manchester United came from behind — again — to beat Southampton 2-1 at Old Trafford this evening.

Manchester United 2-1 Southampton

WAYNE ROONEY SCORED twice as Manchester United came from behind to move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Alex Ferguson’s side have now won 11 of their 12 home matches in the league but for the 12th time this season, they fell behind when Jay Rodriguez made the most of a David de Gea error to open the scoring.

Of those 12 occasions United have only failed to win three times and Rooney summed up that character with two first-half goals that made it nine in nine matches for the England striker.

United had to endure a strong second-half performance from the visitors and some jittery moments in the closing stages to secure their victory.

After emerging with credit from a goalless draw from his first game in charge against Everton, this was another performance full of positives for new Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino.

United boss Ferguson could hardly have selected a more attack-minded line-up but once again his defence let him down as the league leaders fell behind after two minutes.

Morgan Schneiderlin’s ball was cut out by Michael Carrick who lobbed a back-pass towards de Gea. The Spanish goalkeeper was weak in his challenge of Rodriguez and the striker rolled the ball into the net for an easy finish.

The lead was to last just five minutes, with Shinji Kagawa clipping through an incisive pass for Rooney to get in behind and guide a shot past Artur Boruc to pull the hosts level.

They should have moved ahead just over a minute later when a Phil Jones cross was allowed all the way across the box and Kagawa was only denied by the post.

Then just before the half-hour, United did get their second when van Persie floated a free-kick to the far post, Patrice Evra headed back across goal and Rooney touched in from less than a yard out.

Pochettino made a double change at the interval as he looked to spark his team and Lambert forced a decent save from de Gea as Southampton continued to grow in confidence after the break.

De Gea later went some way to redeeming himself for his early error with a fine save from Lambert’s curling free-kick as United took all three points.

- © AFP, 2013

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