Robin van Persie apologised for his fluffed penalty against Southampton but his dramatic late goals that completed a hat-trick made amends, as Manchester United came back to record a dramatic 3-2 win. In the 67th minute, with United trailing 2-1, Van Persie tried to be too clever with a chipped kick from the spot and the Southampton goalkeeper Kelvin Davis saved it. But the Holland striker, who had scored United’s first equaliser in the 23rd minute, converted from close range on 88 minutes before he headed the winner in the second minute of injury time. “I don’t know what I was thinking with the penalty,” Van Persie said. “I wanted to hit it hard like I always do. At the last second, I just changed somehow, maybe it was my brother or something. It wasn’t good enough. It was a bit of a down and then afterwards, we were a bit lucky with the 2-2 and then at the end, a dramatic 3-2.

RVP is clearly the man at United for the moment. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out when Wayne Rooney returns. United has not looked sharp in the early going, but a win is a win.

Hit the jump to see the highlights and that fluffed PK after the jump…