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A perfect hat-trick - as unlikely lads bail out United

Jonny Evans was on the scoresheet for Manchester United © PA Photos

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Premier League: Utd survive QPR scare
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Avoiding embarrassment

Manchester United might be feeling a little relieved this evening, after briefly staring defeat to the division's bottom side in the face before ultimately moving to the top of the Premier League table - all in the span of about half an hour.

(Substitute) Javier Hernandez's third and final goal apart, the 3-1 win was engineered from unlikely sources. Not only did Jonny Evans get his first league goal at Old Trafford to cancel out Jamie Mackie's surprise opener for QPR, Darren Fletcher - making his first league start since returning from what many had feared would be a career-ending battle with colitis - then popped up in the box to head home what Americans would annoyingly call "the go-ahead goal".

All the while, Sir Alex Ferguson was watching on impassively. Wait, sorry, that was his statue.

Sheer perfection

As self-appointed football purists, we believe 'perfect hat-tricks' should always be recognised. So congratulations to Jordi Gomez - who not only scored three goals, but got one with his right foot, one with his left, and one with his head in Wigan's clash with Reading at the DW Stadium.

Not only that (there's more?!), but his three goals were the difference as Wigan completed an important 3-2 victory at home to fellow strugglers Reading. Now that's a good afternoon's work.

Somebody ate their Weetabix

Sean Morrison is enjoying a growing reputation in the game, but before Saturday's goal against Wigan - his first for Reading, having previously joked that he doesn't even score in training - he was probably better known to the public for other things.

Most notably, the youngster last week announced his intention to review all the types of cereal available in the UK (Twitter hashtag: #cerealquest). "I want to be a cereal connoisseur because my typical choice at the moment is Golden Grahams or Golden Nuggets - anything golden," Morrison said last week. "I eat a lot of cereal and that's what I snack on when I go home.

"So that's why Cereal Quest has come about because I need to try and educate myself and let people know what the best cereal out there is."

Whatever cereal Morrison had to kick off Saturday, can we suggest he sticks with that for future matchdays?

Steven Naismith - Movember is not your friend © PA Photos

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Swings and roundabouts

Steven Naismith report card from game against Norwich:

Performance: B+
Movember effort: D- (must try harder)

Top, top interviewee

Far be it from us to suggest it, but perhaps Harry Redknapp should agree to fewer interview requests in future?

Barely back in management for an hour after QPR officially confirmed his appointment, the former Spurs tactician agreed to go on Sky Sports News for at least his third interview (with them alone) in the last 15 hours. His first comment on air? "Who am I speaking to again?"

If you can't keep track, Harry, perhaps you shouldn't do as many...

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