Michael Essien scored twice to inspire Chelsea to their fourth Premier League win in four matches. The champions strolled to a 3-1 victory at West Ham United, leaving their London rivals rooted to the foot of the table with no points.

Arsenal took full advantage of a red card for Bolton Wanderers defender Gary Cahill with a 4-1 home triumph.

Moussa Dembele's second goal of the game, in the last minute, gave Fulham a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers that was soured by a broken leg for England striker Bobby Zamora.

Goalkeeper Matt Gilks was man of the match as Blackpool continued an impressive start to their first top-flight season for 39 years with a 2-0 victory at Newcastle United.

Manchester City struggled again, held 1-1 at home by Blackburn Rovers. Tottenham Hotspur's Luka Modric joined the club's growing injury list despite scoring in a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion.

There was a real buzz around Goodison Park with the news that United and England striker Rooney, at the center of tabloid allegations over his private life, had been left out.

It looked to be a good decision as the visitors cruised into a 3-1 lead after goals by Darren Fletcher, Nemanja Vidic and Dimitar Berbatov had canceled out Steven Pienaar's 39th-minute opener for Everton.

However, in a breathless finale, Tim Cahill headed Everton's second in the first minute of added time and Mikel Arteta kept his cool to rifle in the equalizer after spring-heeled Cahill had nodded down another Leighton Baines cross.

"It's quite unreal but with the chances we missed it was probably a fair result," Cahill told Sky Sports.

United manager Alex Ferguson, who also saw his team concede a last-minute equalizer at Fulham last month, said: "Football can do that to you. From a completely comfortable position we've thrown it away.

"We played some good football at times and Berbatov was absolutely brilliant but that's all wasted."   On Rooney's omission, Ferguson said: "We made a decision simply because he gets terrible abuse here. We don't want to subject him to that."   Soon after United trudged off the pitch in their lunchtime kickoff, Chelsea were already ahead at a West Ham side struggling under new boss and former Stamford Bridge manager Avram Grant.

The champions might have been handed a gentle start to the season fixture-wise but they have taken full advantage by winning all four games, scoring 17 goals and conceding one.

After Essien headed in a second-minute corner, goalkeeper Robert Green and defender Matthew Upson gifted Salomon Kalou a lucky second as the ball rebounded off him and looped into the net.

Essien doubled his tally with another late header — Didier Drogba claiming a hat-trick of assists — while Scott Parker's superb volley was too little too late for the hosts.
 
Wolfsburg loses again

In Berlin, Steve McLaren's VfL Wolfsburg slumped to another Bundesliga defeat on Saturday with a 2-0 loss at Borussia Dortmund while Michael Ballack was injured in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-2 draw at Hanover 96.

Second-half goals from Nuri Sahin and Shinji Kagawa left 2008-09 champions Wolfsburg without a point after three outings under the former England manager.

Ballack's unhappy start to the season continued when he limped off after just over half an hour of Leverkusen's match following a collision with an opponent.

There was no immediate word on how serious the injury was and goals in the last 30 minutes from Eren Derdiyok and Patrick Helmes saved a point for Leverkusen. Didier Ya Konan and Mohammed Abdelloue had put Hanover 2-0 ahead, despite a red card for Emanuel Pogatetz before halftime.

Eintracht Frankfurt won 4-0 at Borussia Moenchengladbach, helped by two goals from Greek Theofanis Gekas who last week announced his international retirement. Benjamin Koehler and Patrick Ochs scored the other goals for Eintracht, who have six points.

Hamburg SV dropped their first points when they conceded a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw at home to Nuremberg.

Freiburg came behind to beat VfB Stuttgart 2-1, leaving their opponents pointless after selling Sami Khedira to Real Madrid in the close season.

Hoffenheim, 2-0 winners over Schalke 04 on Friday, lead the table with nine points.

Wolfsburg nearly took a first-half lead when Edin Dzeko, last year's Bundesliga top-scorer, rattled the crossbar from 30 meters.

But they were lucky to reach the break with 11 men when Brazilian midfielder Diego, returning to the club after one unhappy season at Juventus, escaped a red card for petulantly kicking an opponent from behind.

Turkey midfielder Sahin broke the deadlock with a curling 30-meter shot five minutes after the break and Japan's Kagawa finished off an incisive passing move for the second to leave Dortmund with six points.