Wayne Rooney scored his first hat trick for 14 months on Saturday to help Manchester United recover a two-goal halftime deficit and beat West Ham 4-2, keeping his team on course for a record 19th Premier League title.
Two penalty kicks by Mark Noble put relegation-threatened West Ham 2-0 ahead by the 25th minute at Upton Park, but Rooney trimmed the deficit in the 65th and equalized eight minutes later with a low shot across goalkeeper Robert Green.
Rooney put United ahead for the first time with a 79th-minute penalty awarded for a handball by Matthew Upson, and Javier Hernandez then put the result beyond doubt with his 11th Premier League goal of the season.
Victory took leader United to 66 points with seven matches remaining.
''We don't give up, no matter what the score,'' Rooney said. ''We were brilliant all over the park, but even when he haven't been playing well we have been grinding out results.''
Hernandez replaced Patrice Evra for the second half, with Ryan Giggs moving to left back, and striker Dimitar Berbatov coming on for Park Ji-sung - and United was soon back in the game.
Rooney curled in a free kick for just his eighth league goal of the season and struck his 100th in the English top flight soon after, taking a pass by Antonio Valencia on the edge of the box, creating room with one touch and shooting past Green with his next.
The England striker then scored from the spot following Upson's inadvertent handball of Fabio da Silva's cut back from the goal line, and Hernandez scored from Giggs' cross with six minutes left.
But United had looked on course for a repeat of November's 4-0 League Cup defeat to West Ham after Noble's penalties.
United had dominated the early exchanges but fell behind in the 10th minute after Evra handled the ball following Thomas Hitzlsperger's pass over the defense to striker Carlton Cole. Noble sent the resulting penalty one way and goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak dived the other.
Defender Nemanja Vidic then tripped Cole on the very edge of the area and Noble made it 2-0 with a penalty into the top right corner.
