Chelsea go top as City lose at Arsenal

Chelsea went top of the Premier League when they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Stamford Bridge yesterday and leaders Manchester City lost 1-0 at Arsenal.

Frank Lampard's 31st minute strike was enough to extend Chelsea's record unbeaten home league run to 65 matches and move them on to 10 points from four matches. It was Portsmouth's first defeat of the season.

It was the fourth successive match in which Lampard had scored, including England's goal against Germany on Wednesday, and manager Jose Mourinho praised his performance.

"When he plays well he is the best, when he doesn't play well he is the second best, he is a fantastic player," Mourinho told BBC TV.

"But I want my team to play better," he added, "the weather didn't help, it was very, very hot and it cost us a bit. It was not a great performance but a good result."

Manchester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel saved a 67th minute penalty from Robin van Persie but had no chance of stopping a shot from Cesc Fabregas 13 minutes later which was enough to secure the points for the Gunners and end City's perfect start to the season.

They have nine points from four games, but Schmeichel, taking a leaf out of his father Peter's book, nearly saved a point for City just before the end.

Like his father used to do for Manchester United, Schmeichel joined the City attack for a corner and forced counterpart Manuel Almunia into saving his header.

City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "Kasper could do nothing about the goal, he had no chance of saving it.

"Now and then we played really well, but now it's time to see the reaction to our first defeat of the season, but I am sure it will be OK and we will go on.

"I can't complain about the performance. We stood up to Arsenal and I am rather proud of the way the players played."

Arsenal moved on to seven points, along with Wigan Athletic, who drew 1-1 at West Ham United, and Liverpool, who beat Sunderland 2-0 in a lunchtime kick-off.

Mohamed Sissoko scored his first goal after 75 matches at Liverpool - the 7,000th in their league history - to put them ahead while Andriy Voronin added the second four minutes from time.

Bolton picked up their first points after three straight defeats with goals from Gary Speed, Nicolas Anelka and substitute Daniel Braaten giving them a 3-0 win over Reading.

A relieved Bolton manager Sammy Lee said: "There were a lot of positives to be taken from the defeats and I did not get too carried away because we were losing. Now I am not going to get carried away because we have won."

Aston Villa beat Fulham 2-1 at Villa Park for their first win of the season with substitute Shaun Maloney's goal in the final minute securing the points.

Clint Dempsey had given Fulham an early lead but Villa equalised when a shot from Ashley Young deflected off Zat Knight and past debutant keeper Kasey Keller after 50 minutes.

Fulham's away-day woes continued when defender Chris Baird was sent off after 68 minutes for a second bookable offence.

Cameron Jerome scored twice to give Birmingham a 2-1 win at Derby, now languishing in bottom place with one point. They are in good company however, with champions Manchester United, who play Tottenham at Old Trafford today, one point and one place above them.

Top scorers

3 goals: Anelka (Bolton); Lampard (Chelsea); Sibierski (Wigan).
2 goals: Santa Cruz (Blackburn); Mwaruwari, Utaka (Ports-mouth); Healy (Fulham); Jerome (Birmingham); Geovanni (Man. City); Chopra (Sunder-land); Oakley (Derby); Van Persie (Arsenal); Osman (Everton); Martins (Newcastle); Malbranque (Tottenham).

Upcoming fixtures

Playing Today: Man. United vs Tottenham 17.00, M'boro vs Newcastle 14.30

Tuesday: League Cup second round - 8.45 p.m. Birmingham vs Hereford; Bristol Rovers vs West Ham; Burnley vs Oldham; Cardiff vs L. Orient; Carlisle vs Coventry; Derby vs Blackpool; Luton vs Sunderland; MK Dons vs Sheffield United; N. Forest vs Leicester; Peterborough vs West Brom; Plymouth vs Doncaster; Portsmouth vs Leeds; Rochdale vs Norwich; Sheffield Wed. vs Hartlepool; Shrewsbury vs Fulham; Southend vs Watford; Swansea vs Reading; Wigan vs Hull; Wolves vs Morecambe; Wrexham vs Aston Villa. 9 p.m. Charlton vs Stockport.

Wednesday: League Cup second round - 8.45 p.m. Bristol City vs Manchester City; Newcastle vs Barnsley. 9 p.m. Middlesbrough vs Northampton.

Saturday: Premier League - 4 p.m. Bolton vs Everton; Fulham vs Tottenham; Liverpool vs Derby; Middlesbrough vs Birmingham; Newcastle vs Wigan; Reading vs West Ham. 6.15 p.m. Manchester United vs Sunderland.

Sunday, Sept. 2: Premier League - 2.30 p.m. Arsenal vs Portsmouth. 4 p.m. Blackburn vs Manchester City. 5 p.m. Aston Villa vs Chelsea.