Unexpected defeats for Chelsea and Manchester United allowed champions Manchester City to stroll into first place in the Premier League yesterday by crushing Aston Villa 5-0.
United’s 1-0 loss in the late kick-off at Norwich City prevented them from returning to the summit, while third-place Chelsea have now gone four games without a win after losing 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion.
David Silva’s scrappy 43rd-minute goal put City ahead at the Etihad Stadium, before penalties from Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez made it 3-0.
Aguero beat Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan at his near post to claim his second goal in the 67th minute and Tevez then tapped home the fifth, as City warmed up for Wednesday’s vital Champions League encounter with Real Madrid in style.
“In the last two games, I think we changed something. In our mind we found a good spirit, like last year,” said Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini, whose side beat Tottenham 2-1 last weekend.
The result dropped Villa into the bottom three and took City a point above former leaders United, who slumped to their third defeat of the campaign at Carrow Road.
Javier Hernandez started up front for the visitors after inspiring last weekend’s 3-2 win at Villa, but it was former United trainee Anthony Pilkington who claimed the game’s only goal with an excellent 60th-minute header.
Manchester United’s best chance of an equaliser saw Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy produce a flying save to prevent Sebastien Bassong from scoring an injury-time own goal, as Chris Hughton’s side held firm to claim another prized scalp after last month’s 1-0 win at home to Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s early-season momentum appears to have fizzled out completely after their defeat at coach Roberto Di Matteo’s former club left them four points off the pace.
Shane Long put West Brom ahead at the Hawthorns with a 10th-minute header and then teed up Peter Odemwingie for what proved to be the winner after Eden Hazard’s header drew the visitors level six minutes before half-time.
West Brom’s victory allowed them to climb to within a point of Chelsea and they clambered over Everton into fourth place after David Moyes’ side were beaten 2-1 at relegation-threatened Reading.
Steven Naismith punished sloppy defending to give Everton a 10th-minute lead but a second-half Adam Le Fondre double saw the Royals belatedly register their first win of the campaign.
In the battle of the basement clubs, Southampton won 3-1 at Queens Park Rangers to leave the London club four points adrift at the foot of the table and increase the pressure on coach Mark Hughes.
David Hoilett gave QPR hope when he pulled a goal back after Rickie Lambert and Jason Puncheon had put the Saints 2-0 up, but a late Anton Ferdinand own goal confirmed a win that took Nigel Adkins’s men to within a point of safety.
Elsewhere, in-form Luis Suarez took his tally for the season to 10 league goals with a brace as Liverpool beat Wigan Athletic 3-0.
Adebayor sees red
Earlier, Tottenham striker Em-manuel Adebayor scored but was then sent off as his former club Arsenal stormed back from behind to win 5-2 in the north London derby at the Emirates.
Adebayor was sent off for an uncontrolled lunge at Santi Cazorla eight minutes after putting Spurs ahead, and goals from Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Cazorla put Arsene Wenger’s men in control.
Theo Walcott made it 5-2 after Gareth Bale reduced the arrears, to produce a repeat of the scoreline from last season’s equivalent fixture in February.
“We showed people how good we are today,” Walcott said.
“It’ll give us tremendous spirit, and we’ve got a lot of players back to fitness and everybody’s very confident.”
Results and standings
Premier League
Arsenal 5
Mertesacker 24; Podolski 42; Giroud 45; Cazorla 60; Walcott 90;
Tottenham 2
Adebayor 10; Bale 71;
HT: 3-1. Att: 60,111.
Red card: Adebayor (T) 18.
Liverpool 3
Suarez 48, 58; Enrique 66;
Wigan 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 44,913.
Man. City 5
Silva 43; Aguero 54 pen, 67; Tevez 65 pen, 74;
Aston Villa 0
HT: 1-0. Att: 47,072.
Newcastle 1
Ba 90;
Swansea 2
Michu 58; Guzman 87;
HT: 0-0. Att: 49,403.
Norwich 1
Pilkington 60;
Man. Utd 0
HT: 0-0. Att: 26,840.
QPR 1
Hoilett 49;
Southampton 3
Lambert 23; Puncheon 45; Ferdinand 83 og;
HT: 0-2. Att: 18,174.
Reading 2
Le Fondre 51,78p;
Everton 1
Naismith 10;
HT: 0-1. Att: 24,184.
West Brom 2
Long 10; Odemwingie 50;
Chelsea 1
Hazard 39;
HT: 1-1. Att: 25,933.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Man. City | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 10 | 28 |
| Man. United | 12 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 17 | 27 |
| Chelsea | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 13 | 24 |
| West Brom | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 23 |
| Everton | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 16 | 20 |
| Arsenal | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 13 | 19 |
| West Ham | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 18 |
| Tottenham | 12 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 21 | 17 |
| Fulham | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 19 | 16 |
| Swansea | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 16 | 16 |
| Liverpool | 12 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
| Newcastle | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 14 |
| Norwich | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 18 | 14 |
| Stoke City | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 12 |
| Wigan | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 21 | 11 |
| Sunderland | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 9 |
| Reading | 11 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 9 |
| Aston Villa | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 22 | 9 |
| Southampton | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 30 | 8 |
| QPR | 12 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 23 | 4 |
Top scorers
10 goals: Suarez (Liverpool).
8 goals: Van Persie (Man. United), Ba (Newcastle).
7 goals: Michu (Swansea).
6 goals: Fellaini (Everton), Dzeko (Man. City), Tevez (Man. City).
Playing today
Fulham vs Sunderland - 17:00
Tomorrow
West Ham vs Stoke City - 21:00
Next fixtures
Saturday: 13.45 Sunderland vs West Brom. 16.00 Everton vs Norwich; Man. United vs QPR; Stoke vs Fulham; Wigan vs Reading. 18.30 Aston Villa vs Arsenal.
Sunday: 14.30 Swansea vs Liverpool; 16.00 Southampton vs Newcastle. 17.00 Chelsea vs Manchester City; Tottenham vs West Ham.
The Championship
Birmingham 2 - Hull 3
Bolton 1 - Barnsley 1
Bristol City 1 - Blackpool 1
Burnley 0 - Charlton 1
Cardiff 1 - Middlesbrough 0
Crystal Palace 3 - Derby 0
Huddersfield 1 - Brighton 2
Leicester 6 - Ipswich 0
N. Forest 1 - Sheffield Wed. 0
P’boro 1 - Blackburn4
Watford 2 - Wolves1
Playing today:
Millwall vs Leeds United - 14:15
Standings: Crystal Palace 36; Cardiff 34; M’boro 32; Hull City 31; Leicester City 30; Blackburn Rovers 28; Brighton, Huddersfield 27; Nottingham Forest, Watford 26; Millwall, Blackpool, Derby, Charlton Athletic, Burnley 23; Wolves 22; Bolton 21; Leeds United, Birmingham 20; Barnsley 16; Sheffield Wednesday 15; Ipswich Town 13; Peterborough, Bristol City 12.
League One
Bournemouth 4 - Oldham 1
Carlisle 1 - Leyton Orient 4
Colchester 2 - Bury 0
Crawley 2 - Walsall 2
Hartlepool 0 - Coventry 5
Portsmouth 0 - Doncaster 1
Preston 1 - Brentford 1
Scunthorpe 2 - Notts County 2
Sheffield Utd 4 - Stevenage 1
Shrewsbury 1 - Crewe 0
Swindon 4 - Yeovil 1
Standings: Tranmere 37; Sheffield Utd 35; Swindon, MK Dons, Stevenage 32; Crawley 31; N. County, Doncaster 30; Brentford 29; Preston, Bournemouth 27; Yeovil 25; Colchester, Crewe 23; L. Orient 22; Coventry, Walsall, Carlisle 20; Portsmouth 18; Shrewsbury, Oldham, Scun-thorpe 17; Bury 15; Hartlepool 8.
League Two
AFC Wimb. 1 - Aldershot 1
Bradford City 0 - Exeter 1
Burton 3 - Dagenham 2
Chesterfield 2 - Oxford Utd 1
Fleetwood 3 - Plymouth 0
Gillingham 2 - Morecambe 1
Northampton 3 - Wycombe 1
Port Vale 2 - York City 2
Rochdale 2 - Bristol Rovers1
Rotherham 4 - Cheltenham 2
Torquay 1 - Southend 4
Standings: Gillingham 40; Port Vale 33; Cheltenham 32; Fleetwood 31; Rochdale 30; Burton 29; Bradford, Rotherham 28; Exeter City 27; Southend, Northampton 26; Torquay 25; York 24; Dagenham, Morecambe, Chesterfield, Accrington 22; Oxford United 20; Plymouth Argyle, Wim-bledon 18; Bristol Rovers 17; Barnet, Aldershot 14; Wycombe 13.