Newcastle condemned United to a second defeat in four days, with Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye scoring superb goals either side of halftime and Phil Jones scoring a late own goal to heap the misery on Alex Ferguson’s side.
United is three points behind City, which routed Liverpool 3-0 on Tuesday, and only three ahead of Tottenham, which has a game in hand.
Howard became the fourth goalkeeper to score in the Premier League but Bolton recovered to win 2-1 and climb off the bottom of the standings.
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