Dimitar Berbatov scored his third hat-trick of the season as leaders Manchester United maintained their unbeaten English Premier League football record with a 5-0 win over Birmingham City at Old Trafford.
Arsenal moved into second place with a 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic at the Emirates Stadium. Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick for Arsenal but missed out on four goals when he skied a second-half penalty over the bar.
Darren Bent scored on his debut to give Aston Villa a 1-nil win as Manchester City slipped to third in the standings, 3 points behind United and having played 2 more matches.
Villa moved up from 17th to 16th, three points clear of the relegation zone.
Fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur lost ground on the leaders after drawing 1-all at Newcastle United where Fabricio Colocinni scored for the home side and Aaron Lennon equalised in stoppage time.
West Ham United looked as though they had climbed out of the relegation zone, leading 2-1 at Everton going into stoppage time, before Marouane Fellaini equalised for the hosts.
Liverpool gave Kenny Dalglish his first win since he returned as manager with a 3-nil victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Manchester United lead the standings with 48 points from their 22 matches, followed by Arsenal on 46 from 23, Manchester City 45 from 24 and Chelsea 38 from 22.
Sunderland beat Blackpool 2-1 and Fulham beat Stoke 2-nil.
On Monday Blackburn play West Brom and on Tuesday Bolton play Chelsea.
