year wait for a home league win over Manchester United on Saturday when Ryan Babel came off the bench to give it a deserved 2-1 victory over the champion. Its victory took it to 10 points from four games, the same as Chelsea, which won 3-1 at Manchester City, despite Robinho marking his debut for City with a goal after 13 minutes. Emmanuel Adebayor hit a hat trick and Robin van Persie was also on target as Arsenal won 4-0 at Blackburn Rovers to go to nine points. The gloom deepened on Tyneside where thousands of Newcastle United fans protested against absent owner Mike Ashley in the wake of the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan and then watched their team lose 2-1 to Hull City. Marlon King got both goals as Hull claimed the club's first top-flight away win and left them in fourth place. Jermain Defoe scored both goals as Portsmouth came from behind to beat Middlesbrough 2-1, West Bromwich Albion got its first win of the season with a 3-2 home success over West Ham United, while Fulham continued its good start by beating Bolton Wanderers 2-1 and Wigan drew 1-1 against Sunderland. Liverpool had lost five and drawn one of the previous six home league games against United and looked set for another defeat when new signing Dimitar Berbatov set up Tevez to fire the visitors ahead after three minutes. A Wes Brown own goal after an error by goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar leveled before halftime and Liverpool pushed on after the break. Their reward came 13 minutes from time when Babel got just about enough on his shot after a blunder by Ryan Giggs had allowed Dirk Kuyt to cross. United manager Alex Ferguson had few complaints. “The defending was very poor for both goals but overall they were the better team,” he said. “Liverpool produced a performance of tackling and harassing us and making us make mistakes and we didn't cope with that.” Robinho, City's shock $57.22 million signing from Real Madrid, made an immediate impact in the “Clash of the Cash” when he curled in a free kick after 13 minutes. Chelsea equalized through Ricardo Carvalho three minutes later and went on to dominate. Well-crafted second-half goals by Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka secured their seventh successive win over City. Chelsea had John Terry sent off 13 minutes from time and will miss next week's clash with Manchester United – as will United's centre back Nemanja Vidic, red carded at Anfield. Ronaldo set for early return Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to make an early return from injury in the Champions League on Wednesday. The Portugal international was expected to be out till October after undergoing an operation on his right ankle in July following the European Championship. But manager Alex Ferguson said Ronaldo is “likely to be involved” when United begins its defense of the European Cup against Villarreal at Old Trafford. “Ronaldo is training now, he's with the first team,” Ferguson said Friday. “He's come on leaps and bounds.” On Saturday, Ronaldo was presented with the European Golden Shoe award, the prize for the top scorer in European league football over the previous season. Ronaldo, whose 31 goals helped Manchester United become Premier League champion last season, had asked to receive the prize in his home town of Funchal, the capital of the Madeira islands in Portugal. “It's marvelous to win this prize and it gives me even more motivation to continue. It was here that I grew up and I wanted to show all those who like me that I'm still the same. This is why I feel really proud to receive this prize in Madeira,” Ronaldo was quoted as saying by the website of sports daily A Bola. The winger also netted another eight times in last season's Champions League and scored a total of 42 goals overall. “I think that no other player has been as consistent as me. I think I deserve to win the prize even though it is not down to me to decide,” he added. The 23-year-old is the third Portuguese player to win the award, which was previously known as the European Golden Boot. The other were Benfica's Eusebio and FC Porto's Fernando Gomes, who each won the prize twice. Ronaldo has already won four awards for his dazzling displays of last season. The winger landed two Player of the Year awards from his fellow Premier League players and from England's Football Writers' Association, both for the second straight season. He was also voted as the best player in last season's Champions League and is a prime candidate to be voted best European and world player at the end of the year.
