Leaders Chelsea snatched a 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers through
a late Branislav Ivanovic strike and Alex Song's 88th-minute header secured a
1-0 home win for Arsenal over West Ham United.
Manchester United, who have not lost at home to Tottenham Hotspur
for 21 years, notched up another win in the series as a Nemanja Vidic header
and a bizarre late goal by Nani secured a 2-0 success.
Manchester City followed last week's 3-0 loss to Arsenal by going
down 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton beat Stoke City 1-0 with
Aiyegbeni Yakubu's first goal of the season.
Fulham beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 thanks to two goals by Clint Dempsey.
Chelsea lead the table with 25 points from 10 games, five ahead
of Arsenal and United and eight clear of City.
Autumn games against mid-table opposition are often looked back
upon as decisive in the title race and the top four may come to see Oct. 30 as
a key date in their seasons.
Blackburn were well on top of a lacklustre Chelsea in the early
stages and took a deserved lead through Benjani Mwaruwari after 21 minutes
before the visitors hit back through Nicolas Anelka six minutes before halftime.
Chelsea, held 1-1 by Blackburn last season, eventually awoke
from their torpor but struggled to create chances until Yuri Zhirkov's cross
was headed home by Ivanovic after 84 minutes.
It was an all-action start at Old Trafford as Ji-sung Park hit
a post with a shot for United and Rafael van der Vaart doing the same for Spurs.
Both sides showed plenty of invention and attacking intent but
the breakthrough came from a straightforward set-piece goal as Vidic headed
home a Nani free kick after 31 minutes.
Spurs then lost the impressive Van der Vaart with a hamstring
strain that could keep him out of Tuesday's Champions League clash with Inter
Milan but the bad day was far from finished.
In an incident that will be replayed relentlessly, Spurs keeper
Heurelho Gomes thought he had been awarded a free kick and placed the ball on
the ground in front of his goal.
Nani, seemingly aware that the referee had in fact ruled "play
on,” nipped in and tucked the ball into the unguarded net and, despite furious
protests, the goal was given.
Arsenal dominated possession at the Emirates, hitting the woodwork
twice, but had to wait until the 88th minute to find a way past an obdurate
West Ham as Gael Clichy crossed for Song to nod in his third goal in a week.
"Song is amazing, he has added something to his game.
He came as a center back, becomes a defensive midfielder and now he's playing
like a striker," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
Manchester City were all over Wolves initially but after a 23rd-minute
Emmanuel Adebayor penalty they sat back and paid a heavy price when Nenad
Milijas equalized and David Edwards scrambled in a winner after 57 minutes.
City manager Roberto Mancini was perplexed by the turnaround.
"We played very well for the first 15 minutes, some fantastic
football, but after that I don't know why we finished playing football,"
he said.
"It's important for me to understand why this happened today.
At the moment I don't. Maybe because we played well in the first 15 minutes we
thought it was an easy game but it does not exist and in the end Wolves
deserved to win the game."
REUTERS
