Chelsea recovered from a first-half scare to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Blackburn. Benjani Mwaruwari opened the scoring for the home side but Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic ensured a 2-1 win for the reigning champions.

Manchester United moved level on points with second-placed Arsenal after a 2-0 victory against Tottenham in the evening kick-off at Old Trafford. Nemanja Vidic nodded United ahead with his second of the season before Nani put United 2-0 up with an oppurtunistic goal.

Earlier in the day, City were stunned by a shock 2-1 defeat against strugglers Wolves at Molineux. Fourth-placed City, who lost 3-0 against Arsenal last week, are now trailing the league leaders by eight points. City took the lead after 23 minutes thanks to an Adebayor penalty conversion, but Nenad Milijas pulled Wolves level just seven minutes later. A 57th-minute strike from David Edwards clutched the win for Wolves - only their second of the season.

At Emirates Stadium, a header from Alex Song in the dying minutes gave Arsenal a 1-0 victory over rock-bottom West Ham. A great performance from Robert Green, who kept out Song and Cesc Fabregas with two athletic first-half saves, ensured that the game remained goalless until the 88th minute when Song nodded home Gael Clichy's cross to keep Arsenal in touch with the leaders.

Everton stretched their unbeaten run to five matches thanks to Ayegbeni Yakubu's first goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Stoke at Goodison Park. The Nigerian picked up the ball from Tim Cahill after the Australian's shot had rebounded off the post before beating Asmir Begovic to condemn Stoke to their fourth straight defeat.

A Clint Dempsey double saw Fulham ease past Wigan 2-0, catapulting them eight places up the league table. Dempsey headed past Ali Al Habsi to put Mark Hughes' side in front before the American latched onto Zoltan Gera's cross to double the Cottagers' advantage just before the break.