Manchester City joined Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table, beating Everton in the day’s early game, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men held to a 1-1 draw at Stoke City later on.
Roberto Mancini’s side put the pressure on as second half substitutes Mario Balotelli and James Milner gave the blue half of Manchester a 2-0 win over a poor Everton side.
United failed to maintain its perfect start to the season at Stoke, despite scoring first through Nani. United’s injury problems continue to mount as Wayne Rooney and Jonny Evans both missed the match through injury. So the last thing that Fergie wanted to see was Javier Hernández being forced off at only 11 minutes with another injury. Peter Crouch equalized for Stoke, who could easily have won the match if it was not for the good goalkeeping of David De Gea who made a string of good saves.
United remain top on goal difference, with now Chelsea three points back. Chelsea thrashed Swansea 4-1, with Fernando Torres, Ramires (2) and Didier Drogba all scoring. For the second time in four days, Chelsea had to play a significant amount of the game with 10-men after Torres was shown a straight red for a two-footed lunge on Swans midfielder Mark Gower
Elsewhere , Arsenal captain Robin van Persie brought up a century of goals for the London club after scoring twice in the Gunners 3-0 win over Bolton at the Emirates. Dutch striker van Persie scored in the 46th and 71st minutes before Alex Song added a third late on. The win relieved the pressure on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger but left Bolton rooted to the bottom of the table with only three points.
Liverpool bounced back from their 4-0 thrashing at Spurs last week with a 2-1 win over Wolves at Anfield. Liverpool took the lead courtesy of a Roger Johnson own goal on 11 minutes and added a second through Luis Suarez shortly before half-time. Wolves came back strongly in the second half however, Scottish substitute Steven Fletcher pulling a goal back in the 49th minute to ensure Kenny Dalglish’s side could never relax.
Newcastle maintained their fine start to the season with a 3-1 win over Blackburn at St James Park with Senegalese striker Demba Ba scoring a hat-trick. Ba put Newcastle 1-0 up in the 27th minute after collecting a Leon Best cross and drilling his shot beyond former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson.
Ba added his second only three minutes later, heading home to leave Blackburn reeling. Rovers fought back with a David Hoilett goal on 37 minutes but Ba sealed his hat-trick early in the second half to make sure of the points.
Tottenham followed up their win over Liverpool with a 2-1 win over Wigan at the DW Stadium courtesy of first half goals from Rafael van der Vaart and Welsh winger Gareth Bale. Wigan clawed their way back with a Mohamed Diame goal on 50 minutes but a red card for Steve Gohouri for a second bookable offence left the Latics on the back foot for the remainder of the game. In the day’s other game, Fulham and West Bromwich Albion played out a 0-0 stalemate at the Hawthorns.
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