London, Sep 13 (DPA) Chelsea and Manchester City maintained their perfect starts to the English Premier League but Tottenham Hotspur’s 100 per cent record was ended by 10-man Manchester United.
While City gave Arsenal another miserable day in Manchester with a 4-2 win at Eastlands, Chelsea snatched a late 2-1 win at Stoke Saturday.
And in the day’s evening kick off, United overcame the setback of a Jermaine Defoe goal in the first minute of the match to claim a 3-1 victory, despite the sending-off of Paul Scholes.
The late victory for Chelsea keeps them on top of the Premier League, with 15 points. Man Utd’s win mean they leapfrog Spurs on goal difference into second place on 12 points.
Neighbours City, having played one game less, also moved ahead of Spurs, who slip to fourth place.
At the Britannia Stadium, it was Stoke that took the lead after half an hour as Abdoulaye Faye’s header looped over a stranded Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.
But in injury time in the first half, Didier Drogba latched on to Frank Lampard’s measured through ball to smash home his fourth league goal of the season.
And despite the heroic efforts of the Stoke defence, French midfielder Florent Malouda snatched the winner with a powerful low shot in the fourth minute of injury time.
“I think that we got what we deserved, we tried to attack all the time and in the end we won the game, so I am very happy,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said.
“It was a difficult game after Stoke scored first but we had very good direction. At the end of the game we did very well, we had good pressure and good play and we deserved it.”
Manchester City passed their first significant test of the season with a thumping 4-2 win over Arsenal at Eastlands.
An unfortunate own goal from Manuel Almunia – the ball bouncing back off the post and in off the Spaniard – put City in front but Robin van Persie equalised just after the hour mark.
But Craig Bellamy put City back in front and then goals from Emmanuel Adebayor – against his old club – and Shaun Wright-Phillips sealed a superb win for Mark Hughes’s side, though Tomas Rosicky pulled another back late on.
Hughes would not be drawn on City’s chances of winning the title this season, but acknowledged the importance of today’s match.
“It was important we made a mark today and we did that, we were good value for the win,” said Hughes. “Now we have to sustain that performance from now until the end of the season.”
Tottenham Hotspur could not make it five wins from five as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against the champions at White Hart Lane.
In an exciting and open game, the home side took a first minute lead through an overhead kick from in-form striker Jermaine Defoe.
But the champions quickly asserted themselves and they equalised after 25 minutes through a superb free kick from the veteran Ryan Giggs.
United turned the screw thereafter with goals from Brazilian midfielder Anderson and Wayne Rooney. Despite the sending-off of Paul Scholes on the hour mark, Utd had little difficulty in securing the victory.
Elsewhere, Liverpool moved into fifth place with a confident 4-0 victory over Burnley at Anfield, with Yossi Benayoun scoring a hat-trick.
And on a day of 31 Premier League goals, there were also wins for Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.
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