Manchester United have pulled level with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League after a 2-1 win over Aston Villa on New Year’s Day.

Bruno Fernandes scored the winner from the penalty spot after Villa’s Bertrand Traore had equalised Anthony Martial’s first-half strike.

The result left United second on goal difference behind champions Liverpool, who play at Southampton on Monday.

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The Red Devils were as much as nine points behind the champions earlier in the season after a slow start but are on a 10-match unbeaten run.

“I’m delighted with the three points,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

“It’s early in the season, we shouldn’t be getting too carried away. (But) we’ve improved, we’re getting better. The league is going to be so tight. We’ve just got to keep working.”

Earlier, Everton lost ground as they were upended 1-0 at home by West Ham to remain fourth.

Martial gave United the lead five minutes before half-time at Old Trafford with a header after a fine move begun by Paul Pogba.

But Traore scored at the far post to make it 1-1 on 58 minutes, latching on to Jack Grealish’s pass.

The visitors were level for just three minutes as Pogba was adjudged to have been fouled and Fernandes made no mistake from the spot.

Tyrone Mings went close with a header for Villa and David de Gea made a great save from Matty Cash as United held on to drop Villa down to sixth, behind Chelsea on goal difference.

“Manchester United are a top side and play some good football but we had our chances to score,” Cash said.

“A draw would have been a fair result but we pushed until the end like we have all season and were unlucky not to get one (an equaliser).”

At Goodison, Tomas Soucek was the hero for West Ham as he scored the only goal four minutes from time, from close range, as West Ham stayed 10th, but level on points with Chelsea in fifth.

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Everton remained fourth, four points behind neighbours Liverpool.

“We have to accept the result,” said Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “It will be important to keep our belief high. We are in the position we would like to be and hopefully we can be there at the end of the season. That is our target.”

West Ham manager David Moyes said a win over his old side was the perfect way to start the year.

“To come to Goodison Park and get three points and to play as well as we did … we got the reward for it,” he said.

“We have been playing games while missing important players so we have been juggling around trying to find the right balance. Tonight we had a good balance and it gave us a good chance of winning.”

-AAP