LONDON, Sept 23: Robin van Persie’s late penalty earned below-par Manchester United a 2-1 victory over 10-man Liverpool in an emotionally-charged Premier League clash at Anfield and champions Manchester City were held to a 1-1 home draw by Arsenal on Sunday.

United’s prolific Dutchman sealed the points and ended the club’s five-year wait for a win at Liverpool when he fired his spot-kick past the despairing dive of Pepe Reina after Glen Johnson had brought down Antonio Valencia.

Despite being well below their best, United moved into second spot with 12 points, one point behind leaders Chelsea.

City drew for third time in their opening five games, Laurent Koscielny equalising late for Arsenal after Joleon Lescott had headed the hosts into a halftime lead. Both sides are unbeaten with nine points.Tottenham Hotspur have eight after Jermain Defoe scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers, Spurs’s first home win under new manager Andre Villas-Boas. QPR are in the relegation zone with just two points.

Demba Ba ensured there was no happy St James’ Park return for Chris Hughton, the former Magpies manager now in charge of Norwich.

Ba’s 19th minute goal secured a 1-0 home win for Newcastle, who later saw Papiss Cisse blaze over the top from the penalty spot.

The first match at Anfield since this month’s Hillsborough report cleared Liverpool’s fans of blame for the deaths of 96 of supporters at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final sparked into life after 39 minutes when Jonjo Shelvey was red-carded.

However, Liverpool deservedly went ahead straight after half-time through Steven Gerrard’s volley, only for United to hit back six minutes later through a curling effort by fullback Rafael.

Van Persie’s late strike, his fifth league goal of the season, left Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers still awaiting his first league win of the season after five games, the club’s worst start to a Premier League campaign.

“It is a great result for us but we did not play well,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports. “In the first-half Liverpool dominated us, in the second half we had better possession but they had 10 men, we can’t take great credit for that.”

Before kick-off, a potential flashpoint was avoided when Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and United defender Patrice Evra shook hands.

Suarez, banned for eight games for racially abusing Senegalese-born Frenchman Evra in the equivalent fixture last season, declined to shake the United man’s hand before the clubs’ last meeting in February.

The Hillsborough victims were remembered in a series of pre-match ceremonies and Ferguson said: “Liverpool did a fantastic job today, the fans were terrific and I don’t think there can be any complaint on that part...It has been a good day for football.”

At Eastlands, Lescott, exploiting uncertainty in the Gunners’ zonal marking system, powered in a header five minutes before half-time as Arsenal keeper Vito Mannone flapped at David Silva’s corner but the defender failed to clear a late corner, allowing Koscielny to lash in the leveller eight minutes from time.—Agencies