Ruud van Nistelrooy fired a hat-trick as Manchester United romped to a 4-1 victory at Leicester on Saturday while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's lone strike earned Chelsea a 1-0 triumph over Aston Villa.
The results meant both clubs stayed a point behind leader Arsenal with the Blues ahead of the Reds on goals scored.
Arsenal had moved four clear on Friday by beating Newcastle 3-2 at Highbury in a game brought forward for the benefit of live TV.
Van Nistelrooy, at the center of two incidents that led to a red card for Patrick Vieira and a near brawl in a 0-0 tie between United and Arsenal on Sunday, scored in the 16th, 45th and 52nd minute after Roy Keane had given the Reds the lead at Walkers Stadium with his first goal in 41 games.
Frank Sinclair replied for the Foxes to stop American 'keeper Tim Howard posting a fourth league and cup shutout in a row.
"It was a really first class performance," said United manager Alex Ferguson.
"Van Nistelrooy's name will always be in the newspaper because he's a great player. A hat-trick today and he could have scored six."
At Stamford Bridge, Hasselbaink prodded the ball home two minutes before half time after Villa 'keeper Thomas Sorensen had failed to hold a shot from Frank Lampard.
Although Claudio Ranieri had a full squad of 30 players to choose from his team didn't overwhelm Villa which had chances to capture a point. The Italian admitted his team still had a long way to go before challenging for the top titles.
"We're like a baby," he said. "We're crawling now. Sometimes we try to stand up but we're not ready yet.
"The pressure on the baby isn't good. But I'm his father and I'll take all the pressure.
"We made a lot of chances without scoring and that's no good because [Juan Pablo] Angel had two great chances to tie the match but was unlucky today.
"I thought they deserved the minimum of a draw. Today was a good match for us for the points."
In Saturday's other results, Birmingham stayed unbeaten in six games by beating promoted Portsmouth 2-0, Bolton was held 1-1 at home by last place Wolves and Southampton lost 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough.
Sunday's games are Blackburn-Fulham, Charlton-Liverpool, Everton-Leeds and Manchester City vs. Tottenham which is playing its first league game since firing manager Glenn Hoddle a week ago.
For Manchester United's first visit to the Walkers Stadium, England midfielder Paul Scholes was back for his first game since the start of the season and played a part in the first two goals.
Keane scored from close range from a Paul Scholes pass in the 15th minute as the Foxes conceded their first goal in four games. A minute later a shot from Scholes landed at the feet of Van Nistelrooy who added the second from 10m.
Van Nistelrooy scored his third just before half time when he took a pass from Rio Ferdinand and spun past Sinclair before shooting goalkeeper Ian Walker.
And he completed his hat-trick seven minutes into the second half, shooting home after a pass from Eric Djemba-Djemba.
The results mean that Arsenal has 17 points while Chelsea and Manchester United have 16. The Blues have a game in hand having played just six.
At St. Andrews, Australian international defender Stan Lazaridis provided the free kick for Stephen Clemence to put the home side ahead and then fired the second in the 50th. The result pushed Steve Bruce's team up to fourth with 14 points after its ninth home game without defeat.
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