The striker, recalled to Kevin Keegan's England squad for next Saturday's Euro 2000 clash with Scotland at Hampden Park, netted with a spectacular bicycle kick to put United ahead after half an hour. Cole, in irresistible form for his club, made it two with seven minutes remaining. His first attempt hitting the post, the rebound going in.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claims Cole has put himself firmly in the picture to start for England next week although England coach Kevin Keegan is expected to start with Alan Shearer and Michael Owen.

He believes Cole must have a strong case and he hailed his first goal as `magnificent'.

United top the premiership for the first time in six weeks but their tenure could be short-lived with Leeds in action tonight againstWimbledon.

Ten-man Sunderland pulled a point clear of Arsenal in third after a scrappy 1-1 draw away to Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough's Hamilton Ricard found the net with quarter of an hour left but high flying Sunderland drew level thanks to a Michael Reddy strike.

Liverpool, unbeaten in their last five matches, failed to turn almost constant pressure into goals at home to Derby in the first half as Michael Owen made his premiership return. But Danny Murphy put Liverpool ahead in the 65th minute with Jamie Redknapp extending the lead four minutes later to edge them nearer the top three.

England received a boost when Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier declared Owen fit for international action next week. The diminutive striker made his comeback following a hamstring problem playing 80 minutes before being withdrawn from the fray.

The two bottom of the table sides Watford and Sheffield Wednesday produced a real thriller. Michel Ngonge, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, put Watford ahead before theinterval with Wednesday levelling with a 56th minute penalty from Gilles de Bilde.

But Graham Tayler's Trojans are nothing if not resilient and three minutes later Robert Page had put the Southerners back in front only for de Bilde to secure his side a valuable point 12 minutes from time.

Southampton's purple patch continued with a 1-0 win away to Aston Villa, courtesy of a late strike by Dean Richards.

Elsewhere, Coventry went into a lightning lead after just 43 seconds against Bradford. But Bradford rallied and drew level thanks to a Lee Mills goal just before the interval.

Bayern Munich on course
COLOGNE: European champions league losers Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen attempted to blast away their frustration with sheer muscle yesterday, but neither got the upperhand and their 1-1 result saw each miss an opportunity to go top of the Bundesliga.

That honour belonged to Bayern Munich after 11 rounds thanks to Carsten Jancker's 44th minute goal which gave them a 1-0 win atSSV Ulm. Bayern have 23 points and are followed by Dortmund (21), Hamburg, Leverkusen (both 20) and 1860 Munich (18).

Dortmund and Leverkusen suffered deep disappointment midweek when they were dumped from Europe's top club competition into the consolation Uefa Cup.Eintracht Frankfurt cracked their losing streak impressively with a 4-0 win at home over Hertha Berlin who, despite reaching the second stage of the league are struggling at home with a mere one win out of 10 Bundesliga games.Three goals in quick succession broke Hertha's resistance through Rolf Guie-Mien (17th), Ralf Weber (23rd) and Jan-Aage Fjortoft (28th).

In other games 1860 Munich moved up to fifth place with their 2-1 home win over Unterhaching and Wolfsburg lost 2-0 to VFB Stuttgart. On Friday Hansa Rostock and Hamburg played an entertaining 3-3 draw while Freiburg thrashed Duisburg 3-0.