LONDON: Wayne Rooney's hat trick kept Manchester United on track to win the Premier League with a 4-2 comeback win over West Ham, while title contender Arsenal and Chelsea both dropped points. Second-place Arsenal could only draw 0-0 with 10-man Blackburn and defending champion Chelsea needed Didier Drogba to equalize for a 1-1 draw at mid-table Stoke as Rooney's first hat trick for 14 months helped the leader bounce back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to boost its chances of a record 19th English championship. Liverpool, which shares the record of 18 titles with United, lost 2-1 against a West Bromwich Albion side led by its former manager, Roy Hodgson, while Tottenham's hopes of a second straight top-four finish were hit by a 0-0 draw at Wigan. Chelsea has eight games left and is 11 points behind United, which has played one more game. Second-place Arsenal is seven points off the lead and also has a game in hand. Two penalty kicks by Mark Noble put relegation-threatened West Ham 2-0 ahead by the 25th minute at Upton Park, but Mexico striker Javier Hernandez replaced Patrice Evra for the second half and fellow forward Dimitar Berbatov went on for Park Ji-sung to help United get back in the game. Rooney curled in a 65th-minute free kick for just his eighth league goal of the season and struck his 100th in the English top flight eight minutes later, creating room on the edge of the area with one touch and shooting past goalkeeper Robert Green with his next. The England striker then scored a 79th-minute penalty following Matthew Upson's inadvertent handball and Hernandez scored from Ryan Giggs' cross with six minutes left. United had looked on course for a repeat of November's 4-0 League Cup defeat to West Ham after penalties awarded for a handball by Evra and a trip by Nemanja Vidic on Carlton Cole at the very edge of the area. Arsenal dominated Blackburn and constantly threatened a breakthrough but Blackburn's defense managed to thwart almost all the Gunners' advances to secure a vital point in the fight against relegation. Jack Wilshere passed up an opportunity when he chose to pass back to Andrei Arshavin rather than shoot, with Laurent Koscielny heading the resulting corner kick at goalkeeper Paul Robinson. With 32 minutes to go, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger sent on captain Cesc Fabregas for Arshavin in an effort to force a winning goal and Steven N'Zonzi was shown a straight red card in the 76th for jumping in two-footed on Koscielny. But Robinson saved Van Persie's low shot at the edge of the area, Michel Salgado blocked Nicklas Bendtner's header on the line, and Van Persie headed over in injury time. Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said this week his side was still in contention for the title but his team fell behind to Stoke in the eighth minute through Jon Walters' breakaway goal. Drogba headed an equalizer in the 33rd but Stoke could easily have won, hitting the woodwork twice in the second half and forcing several good saves from Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. West Brom had never scored a goal in its nine previous Premier League matches against Liverpool but, with Hodgson in charge, won Saturday through two second-half penalties by Chris Brunt. Liverpool led through Martin Skrtel's 50th-minute header, but Brunt equalized in the 62nd after defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos brought down Peter Odemwingie and goalkeeper Pepe Reina then tripped Odemwingie, giving Brunt the chance to hit an 88th-minute winner. Darren Bent scored twice for Aston Villa but his side stayed deep in relegation trouble after Leighton Baines' 83rd-minute penalty earned Everton a 2-2 draw. Newcastle beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 and Birmingham beat Bolton 2-1. Norwich kept a firm hold of second place in the second-tier League Championship with a 6-0 win over Scunthorpe, while Cardiff beat Derby 4-1 to move ahead of Swansea into third place on goal difference. Gijon stuns Real Madrid Jose Mourinho's nine-year unbeaten run in home league matches came to an end when his Real Madrid side suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Sporting Gijon in La Liga Saturday. The Portuguese coach last experienced a league defeat in front of his own fans when Porto lost to Beira Mar on Feb. 23, 2002 and was then unbeaten in 150 home league games with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real. Gijon grabbed a surprise lead inThe defeat also spoiled Real's perfect home record in La Liga this season. It had won all 14 of its previous matches at the Bernabeu.
