Arsenal stretched its record unbeaten string in the Premier League to 45 games, Freddie Ljungberg's two second-half goals -- and another from Jose Antonio Reyes -- making the difference in Saturday's 3-0 victory at Fulham.
Fulham held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw at halftime, but Ljungberg scored two within three minutes in the second half -- and Reyes came off the bench to score his sixth goal this season a few minutes later.
Arsenal improved to 5-0, jumping into a two-point lead ahead of Chelsea which saw its perfect record soiled in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa. Arsenal has 15 points with Chelsea on 13, followed by Bolton, Middlesbrough and Everton -- all with 10.
Manchester United continued its sputtering start, settling for a 2-2 draw at Bolton to fall nine points behind Arsenal after only five matches. Injury-plagued United has only one win from its first five games.
United was lucky to earn the draw, with Alan Smith getting a second-half injury-time equalizer. His goal came just seconds after Les Ferdinand gave Bolton a late 2-1 lead.
In the day's other high-profile match, Newcastle hammered Blackburn 3-0. The victory came just days after Blackburn manager Graeme Souness announced he was leaving the team to take over at Newcastle.
Souness watched from the stands and will take over officially on Monday.
In Arsenal's 3-0 victory, Fulham was awarded an early penalty by referee Mark Halsey. But Halsey then waved off what looked like a foul by Ashley Cole on Fulham's Andy Cole.
"I was surprised at first the penalty was given," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "Maybe of course it was a turning point when you cancel the [possible] goal for Fulham. It was certainly an important moment of the game."
Scottish League
Henri Camara's two goals and another from John Hartson earned Scottish leaders Celtic a 3-0 victory Saturday over Dundee, giving the defending champions a perfect record in five matches.
Camara scored in the 22nd and 86th, and Harton added his in the 37th.
The victory improved the defending champions to 15 points with Aberdeen and Kilmarnock on nine points. Rangers, Hearts, Motherwell and Hibernian have seven.
Spanish League
Ludovic Giuly and Henrik Larsson scored a goal each Saturday as FC Barcelona downed Sevilla 2-0 in the second round of the Spanish league to go top of the standings.
Barcelona moved ahead of archrival Real Madrid, which earlier beat Numancia 1-0 courtesy of a trademark free kick by David Beckham, who was making his 50th official appearance for the club.
In another early game, champion Valencia came back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Athletic de Bilbao.
Barcelona, lacking injured star Ronaldinho, made a slow start but improved in the second half following the introduction of 20-year-old midfielder Andres Iniesta.
Bundesliga
Newcomer Mainz stunned Bayer Leverkusen with two goals in three minutes, defending champion Werder Bremen slumped to its second defeat and Stuttgart used the opportunity Saturday to move to the top of the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Hamburger SV.
Bayern Munich also gained ground, jumping five places to fifth despite another mediocre performance in a belabored 1-0 victory over Arminia Bielefeld, a winless promoted team.
Bremen lost 3-1 at Borussia Moenchengladbach, Wolfsburg moved into second place by thrashing Schalke 3-0 and Bochum drew 2-2 with Borussia Dortmund.
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