Aston Villa moved into fifth spot when Emile Heskey's late header earned them a 2-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gerard Houllier's first league match in charge of the midlands club while Stoke City won 2-1 at Newcastle United to move out of the bottom three after trailing at half-time.
GEAR:Get Michael Owen on the back of your Manchester United shirt here
Nani's audacious dribble from the halfway line cancelled out an early goal by defender Zat Knight and, after Martin Petrov had restored Bolton's lead, Owen came off the bench to rescue Sir Alex Ferguson's side with his 200th goal in English football.
United's third consecutive away draw of the season meant they missed the chance to take full advantage of Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at Manchester City on Saturday and Arsenal's surprising 3-2 home loss to West Bromwich Albion.
United's struggle completed an unpredictable weekend in England's top flight and left Ferguson frustrated.
"Teams drop points when you don't expect it," he told United's website. "That's what the Premier League is like.
"Away from home we've scored seven goals and we've only taken three points. But we must take credit coming back again. Being behind twice away from home is not easy to come back from. It shows character."
The visitors were level after 23 minutes when Nani took possession near the halfway line and set off towards Bolton's goal. After ghosting past three defenders, the Portuguese winger angled a shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Elmander wasted a glorious chance to make it 3-1 and Bolton paid the price when Nani's teasing free-kick was glanced in by Owen for his first league goal of the season to reach a notable career landmark.
"Scoring has always been a part of my career, and it's always nice to score goals, but it's tinged with disappointment at not getting the win," Owen said.
Houllier, who witnessed many of Owen's goals while manager of Liverpool, was full of praise for the often maligned Heskey, another player who thrived under him at Anfield.
Heskey's thumping header from Ashley Young's cross after 88 minutes gave Villa the points after Villa had seen an early lead given to them by Stewart Downing cancelled out by Matt Jarvis.
"Everybody loves Emile at the club," Houllier told Villa's website. "He is a good team-mate and what he needs is to keep believing in himself."
