London, Dec 29 (DPA) A controversial late goal from Lee Bowyer denied Manchester United a win in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Birmingham City Tuesday.

The result was enough to return United to the top of the Premier League, after rivals Manchester City had briefly overtaken them earlier in the day with a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa thanks to a Mario Balotelli hat-trick.

Both sides move to 38 points from 18 matches, separated from City by goal difference, although Sir Alex Ferguson's men have played two games fewer.

United went into the match aware of the danger posed by Birmingham, despite the home side's recent descent into the relegation zone and for much of the first half, there was little to choose between the teams.

The best chance of the first 45 minutes came when Ryan Giggs' cross had to be tipped onto the crossbar by Birmingham's former-United goalkeeper, Ben Foster.

But just before the hour mark, Berbatov struck to continue his own superb recent form and fire the away side into the lead.

Having begun the United attack with a sublime flick to Darron Gibson, the Bulgarian latched onto the midfielder's return pass to shoot low inside Foster's left hand post.

The home side pressed United in response but the away side seemed equally capable of extending their lead until Bowyer's decisive intervention in the 90th minute.

Roger Johnson's cross appeared to hit Nikola Zigic on the arm and the ball ricocheted fortuitously into the path of Bowyer - who may himself have been offside - before the midfielder bundled the ball past Edwin Van der Sar from close range.

At Eastlands earlier on Tuesday, a penalty in either half from Mario Balotelli, together with a simple tap-in and a header from Joleon Lescott gave City a comprehensive win over a hapless Villa side.

City wasted no time in dismantling their opponents and found themselves three goals ahead within half an hour. With just seven minutes played, Balotelli despatched his first penalty after being brought down by a reckless challenge from Eric Lichaj.

Five minutes later, the lead was doubled when Lescott headed Adam Johnson's corner past Barry Bannon on the line and any chance Villa might have had was ended when Balotelli tapped in the third after Brad Friedel could only parry David Silva's powerful strike.

Balotelli then fired in from the spot again to complete his hat-trick after Marc Albrighton bundled over Adam Johnson 10 minutes into the second half.

Tottenham's superb recent form continued with a 2-0 win over Newcastle at White Hart Lane despite the home side being forced to play the final 30 minutes without Younes Kaboul after the defender received a second yellow card.

Second half goals from Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale gave the home side the victory that takes them above Chelsea into fourth place on 33 points.

Despite being much the better side for long periods, Spurs were unable to break the deadlock until the hour mark, when Lennon's deflected shot beat Tim Krul in the Newcastle goal.

The decisive goal came 10 minutes from time as Bale led and finished a superb counterattack with a low drive past Krul from a tight angle.

Elsewhere, Fulham moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win at Stoke with two rare goals from defender Chris Baird and Blackpool's excellent away form this season continued with a 2-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Two goals from Nikolo Kalinic also helped Blackburn to a 3-1 win over West Brom although the striker was later sent off for a dangerous late tackle on Paul Scharner, while West Ham remain in the relegation zone after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton at Upton Park.

Wednesday's Premier League action sees Chelsea face Bolton at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal travel to Wigan and Liverpool take on Wolves at Anfield.