United's Rooney breaks scoring drought in win over Sunderland
Wayne Rooney ended his eight-game English Premier League scoring drought with a brace as Manchester United climbed back above Arsenal into third with a 2-0 victory against a dogged Sunderland on Saturday.
United were booed during stages of another underwhelming first half at Old Trafford but Rooney, restored to his favoured forward position, dispatched a 66th-minute penalty after Radamel Falcao was impeded by John O'Shea.
It's great to score but the three points are the most important thing
Fellow former United man Wes Brown was wrongly shown the red card instead of O'Shea despite the remonstrations of Sunderland's players before Rooney added his second with a simple finish in the 84th minute.
"It's great to score but the three points are the most important thing," Rooney told Sky Sports. "The performance was good. We had a bit more space with the 10 men but we should have been ahead before that."
United's top-four rivals Southampton continued their recent slump after they were beaten 1-0 at improving West Bromwich Albion, courtesy of Saido Berahino's early goal.
