Manchester United rallied from a goal behind to defeat ten-man Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield, before Manchester City were held to a 1-1 home draw by Arsenal.
This was Liverpool’s first home game since the findings of an independent panel investigating the disaster at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were published and cleared Liverpool’s supporters of blame
Both teams came out in tracksuits that had ’96′ on the back. Then Sir Bobby Charlton presented flowers to former Liverpool striker Ian Rush as captains Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs released 96 red balloons in memory of those who died
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool side dominated the early exchanges between these two bitter rivals, but the game turned when Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey was shown a straight red for a two footed tackle on United’s Jonny Evans.
Despite being a man down, it was Liverpool who scored first when Steven Gerrard put Liverpool ahead a minute into the second half.
United, who had failed to win at Anfield since 2007, got back on level terms just five minutes later when Rafael put a terrific shot into the top corner from a sharp angle. The comeback was complete nine minutes from time when Antonio Valencia was upended in the penalty area by Glen Johnson and Robin van Persie’s well-struck spot kick squeezed past Pepe Reina.
Cross-town rivals Manchester City were held to a second successive draw, meanwhile, despite taking the lead through Joleon Lescott’s 40th-minute header. Arsenal were in no mood to surrender and earned a deserved point when Laurent Koscielny fired in from close range with eight minutes remaining.
Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur’s return to form continued at home to Queens Park Rangers fter an Alejandro Faurlin own goal and Jermain Defoe’s fourth league goal sealed their comeback following Bobby Zamora’s opener. Newcastle United were Sunday’s other victors, beating Norwich City 1-0.