Chelsea brought a whole new dimension to the Premier League title race when they handed Manchester City their first defeat of the season on Saturday to leave Mohamed Salah-inspired Liverpool as the new leaders.
The destination of the Premier League trophy will not be decided when current champions Chelsea meet their immediate predecessors Manchester City.
Luis Suarez marked his return to Premier League action with two goals to help Liverpool to a 3-1 win at managerless Sunderland that lifted them to second in the table on Sunday.
Substitute Dusan Tadic fired the only goal as Southampton recorded a first league win over Manchester United for 27 years on Sunday, climbing above them into third in the Premier League.
Arsenal delivered a brutal lesson in fast-paced Premier League football to beat Liverpool 4-1 on Saturday, maintaining their faint title aspirations and almost certainly dashing their opponents' hopes of a top-four finish.
Substitute Jesse Lingard struck twice in the second half as Manchester United fought back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 Premier League draw with Burnley at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Arsenal missed the chance to heighten the congestion at the top of the Premier League and suffered fresh injury blows when a frustrating 1-1 draw at Norwich City failed to take them alongside leaders Manchester City and Leicester City on Sunday.
Here is a summary of stories from the English Premier League
Arsenal maintained their challenge for a first trophy in nine seasons when they beat Liverpool 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to open up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.
Liverpool beat Leicester City 2-1 to post a fourth successive Premier League victory but conceded their first goal of the season after a nightmare mistake by new keeper Alisson.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continued his dream start as Manchester United caretaker manager with a 3-1 Premier League win over Huddersfield on his Old Trafford debut in the dugout on Wednesday.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
With Liverpool still to visit Chelsea, who trail them by nine points with two games in hand, Juergen Klopp's side may have to beat Brighton & Hove Albion on May 13 and rely on their superior goal difference to qualify for the Champions League, assuming they do not secure it by winning this year's trophy.
France produced a scintillating show as they put memories of one of the most painful moments in their soccer history to one side by crushing Bulgaria 4-1 in a World Cup Group A qualifier on Friday.
An inexperienced Germany suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Slovakia in a storm-affected friendly ahead of Euro 2016.
Wales continued their unbeaten start to the Euro 2016 campaign as a nervy 2-1 triumph over Cyprus, after they had been reduced to 10 men, bolstered the nation's dream of qualifying for a major championship finals for only the second time.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Manchester City displayed champions' swagger as they roared clear at the top with a 5-0 trouncing of Burnley but it was drama which engulfed their neighbours Manchester United and Jose Mourinho that dominated the Premier League agenda on Saturday.
Chelsea struck the woodwork twice but could not find a breakthrough in an entertaining 0-0 Champions League draw at Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday that left everything to play for in Group G.
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench and scored an opportunist goal which set Portugal on the way to a 2-0 win in Andorra on Saturday that maintained their chances of qualifying directly for the World Cup.
Jose Mourinho suffered a nightmare homecoming as Porto, the club he led to the Champions League title in 2004, inflicted a 2-1 defeat on his woefully out-of-sorts Chelsea side in Group G on Tuesday.