Chelsea came through its sternest test of the season to stay atop the English Premier League, beating Arsenal 2-1 Saturday to open up a three-point lead after Manchester United lost at home to Tottenham for the first time in 23 years.
Spurs' 3-2 win in a thrilling match at Old Trafford saw United drop to third place and level on points with defending champion Manchester City, which needed a late goal by Edin Dzeko to grab a 2-1 victory at Fulham.
Everton is the nearest challenger to Chelsea following its 3-1 come-frombehind win over Southampton and Liverpool completed a good day for Merseyside by earning its first league triumph of the season, Luis Suarez scoring a hat trick in a 5-2 thrashing of Norwich.
Unbeaten Chelsea's fifth win in six games was secured by goals from Fernando Torres and Juan Mata and a strong rearguard display from a defence featuring John Terry, two days after he received a fourmatch ban for on-pitch racial abuse.
"It was a big challenge to play against a quality side like Arsenal," Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo said of opponents who were unbeaten heading into the match at Emirates Stadium. "We were excellent. We didn't just come and sit back, we took the initiative."
On a day of 29 goals - the most in a single day in the English top flight since February - five came in the United-Spurs match, with United States forward Clint Dempsey scoring what proved to be the winner in the 52nd to pounce on a sloppy performance from United.
"It was a roller-coaster, up and down," said Dempsey, whose first goal for Spurs earned the team a third straight win and left it in fifth place - a point behind the Manchester clubs. "We found ourselves 2-0 up and then in the second half, it seemed we were chasing shadows. But we ground out a result and showed a lot of character."
Jan Vertonghen and Gareth Bale made the most of United's sluggish start with goals in the opening 32 minutes, before Nani and Shinji Kagawa sandwiched Dempsey's strike in a crazy spell of three goals in less than three minutes.
Tottenham survived a number of good penalty shouts and late chances by United for a first win over Sir Alex Ferguson's side in 11 years.
