Manchester United provisionally reclaimed top spot in the Premier League by coming from behind to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 on Saturday as the bottom-place team failed to be galvanized by Harry Redknapp's arrival as manager.
Jamie Mackie put QPR ahead at Old Trafford, where Redknapp was watching from the stands hours after replacing the fired Mark Hughes.
But the west London team failed to secure its first win of the season, with Jonny Evans equalizing before Darren Fletcher and Javier Hernandez scored to put United back on the winning path after losing at Norwich last weekend.
"We played for 10 or 15 minutes," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "That was the sum total of our real performance from Manchester United. Of course, it is frustrating we keep ending up in that position, but when they scored, it definitely sparked us up."
United is now two points ahead of Manchester City, but the defending champions are at Chelsea today.
West Bromwich Albion dislodged Chelsea from third by keeping up its flying start to the season with a 4-2 victory at Sunderland, but Arsenal is languishing in sixth place after a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.
At Old Trafford, United halted a run of back-to-back losses, but like so often this season had to fight back from a losing position.
Seven minutes into the second half, Anders Linde-gaard turned Kieron Dyer's low cross away from his goal and Mackie put the ball into the net from close range.
"I would tell the fans: 'Don't lose faith,' " said QPR coach Mark Bowen.
