Arsenal turned on the style to beat Bolton Wanderers 3-1 on Saturday and get an early-season taste of the top of the Premier League. They top the standings on 12 points, one ahead of Liverpool, who were held to a goalless Anfield draw by Stoke City.
Premier League leaders Liverpool stumbled again at home on Saturday, needing two Steven Gerrard goals to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw with Hull City.
Unbeaten Arsenal stretched their lead in the Premier league to five points after a 2-1 win at Aston Villa on Saturday while Chelsea beat West Ham United 1-0 to overhaul Manchester United and go second.
Chelsea coach Antonio Conte welcomed the pressure other clubs are trying to maintain on his runaway Premier League leaders and said he expected a battle until the season is over.
Hull City gatecrashed the Premier League's top four again on Sunday with a 1-0 home defeat of West Ham United.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Arsenal beat Brighton and Hove Albion 3-2 to reach the FA Cup fifth round.
Arsenal scored a late goal to force a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa but saw their lead at the top of the Premier League cut to one point after Manchester United won 3-0 at Fulham.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Manchester United maintained their push for a top-four Premier League finish when they beat Everton 1-0 with a second-half goal by French striker Anthony Martial at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Klopp fined by FA for referee comments after West Ham draw
Rafa Benitez's risky decision to start Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt on the bench looked like a masterstroke on Saturday after the strikers came on late to earn a 3-2 victory at Portsmouth which sent Liverpool top. Liverpool's grandstand finish moved them one point clear of Premier League champions Manchester United, at least until Sunday when Alex Ferguson's side visit West Ham United for one of their two games in hand.
Craig Bellamy scored his second goal since joining Manchester City to earn his side a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Saturday.
Aston Villa took full advantage of the absence of the other Premier League high-fliers on Saturday, winning 1-0 at West Ham United to climb to third. A deflected James Milner shot 12 minutes from time gave Villa 34 points from 18 games and pushed them above Manchester United (32).
The Manchester United striker finished with one more goals than last season's winner, Thierry Henry.
Manchester United beat West Ham United 1-0 to consolidate their second place in the EPL
Liverpool continued their relentless march to a first English title in 30 years, easing to a 2-0 victory at West Ham United on Wednesday to move 19 points clear at the Premier League summit. Mohamed Salah fired them ahead from the penalty spot in the first half and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain doubled their advantage early in the second to wrap up a remarkable 23rd win from 24 games this season and stretch their unbeaten league run to 40.
Hooliganism is not a problem in English football, according to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, despite a week in which disturbances at West Ham United's League Cup tie against Chelsea tarnished the game's glossy image.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Of the 220 players who started for Premier League clubs at the weekend, only 73, or 33.2 per cent, were eligible to play for England.
Arsenal will reportedly play Chelsea in a fourth-round Capital One Cup match after winning 4-3 on penalties against West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday at The Hawthorns.
A sparkling two-goal display by Carlos Tevez overshadowed a promising debut by Edin Dzeko as Manchester City claimed a nervy 4-3 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers to go top of the Premier League on Saturday. Dzeko, a 27 million pounds ($42.77 million) buy from VfL Wolfsburg, made a good first impression as City led 4-1 but they were hanging on at the end against the doughty visitors.
The Belgian wizard tormented West Ham throughout and scored both goals to move Chelsea above Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in the race for a top-four finish.
Liverpool needed two extra-time goals to beat NottsCounty 4-2 at Anfield on an eventful night for the Premier League clubs in the League Cup second round on Tuesday.
Arsenal suffered another painful Premier League defeat as Swansea City capitalised on some glaring errors to win 3-1 on Tuesday, boosting their survival hopes and denting the visitors' top four chances.
Alex Ferguson has urged Manchester United supporters to get behind under-fire manager Louis van Gaal despite the side struggling to avoid a third hugely disappointing campaign since the all-conquering Scot retired.
The English clubs were paired in the FA Cup semi-final draw on Friday
A stunning 87th-minute free kick by captain Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa as the new Premier League season opened on Saturday.
Responding to an initiative already run by fans of both clubs, City and United will donate 50,000 pounds each to the Trussell Trust, a support network of more than 1,200 food banks.
Chelsea have signed Liverpool's versatile midfielder Yossi Benayoun on a three-year deal, the Premier League champions said on Friday.
Charlton were relegated from the Premier League after losing 2-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
Suggestions that Chelsea effectively bagged two trophies on Sunday were presumptuous.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Tottenham Hotspur maintained their push for a Premier League top-four finish with a well-deserved 2-0 home win over struggling London rivals West Ham United on Monday.
Everton manager David Moyes will not answer questions about his new appointment at Manchester United when he speaks to journalists at his regular Friday news briefing, the club said.
"The best team won, we struggled from the beginning and we couldn't deal with their long balls. Usually, you press the ball to win it, but this was different. They defended so deep and so well," City coach Pep Guardiola told the BBC.
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