Chelsea charged to the top of the Premier League with a 5-0 win at last place Wolves on Saturday.
The big-spending Blues, who have bought 15 players during the off season thanks to the millions injected into the club by Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, went above Arsenal on goal difference after two strikes by Hernan Crespo and more from Frank Lampard, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Damien Duff.
Chelsea's stay at the top may be short, however. Arsenal goes to Manchester United on Sunday with either side having the chance to go above the Blues.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Southampton moved up to fourth with a 3-1 win at Tottenham while Manchester City slipped to fifth after a 2-2 tie with lowly Fulham. City is tied on 11 with Liverpool, which edged Leicester 2-1, and Birmingham, which won 2-0 at Leeds.
"They played very very well, the touch and movement of the ball and I am very pleased today, Blues manager Claudio Ranieri said.
"I was very curious to watch my players after the first match in the Champions League [on Tuesday]. They played very well, everyone focused on the match."
Ranieri was happy that Crespo netted his first goals for the club.
"He's a striker. When I bought him, as like [Adrian] Mutu, he's a big striker. But also like [Eidur] Gudjohnsen and Jimmy. And then I have four great strikers," said the Italian, whose job has been the subject of media speculation with reports that the club might lure Sven-Goran Eriksson to Stamford Bridge.
"This is all rubbish," he said. "Yes I spoke with [the owners]. Maybe there was before Roman Abramovich met me. Since then it's finished, everything. I am used to work and think only of my work."
Wolves manager Dave Jones, whose team has just one point from six games after being promoted for the first time in 19 years, said his players were guilty of giving Chelsea too much room go play.
"We allowed them too much space," Jones said. "You can't allow players of good ability too much space and we allowed them to pick passes.
Crespo replaced Hasselbaink in the 65th minute and made it four with his first touch, firing home a cross from Duff. The fifth came in injury time when Chelsea walked the ball through a dispirited Wolves defense and Crespo arrived unmarked to fire his second past Oakes.
Michael Owen netted his sixth of the season and Emile Heskey scored against his former club in Liverpool's victory over Leicester at Anfield.
England striker James Beattie scored two of Southampton's goals at Tottenham to leave Spurs and under fire manager Glenn Hoddle struggling at third from last.
"I know how [the fans] feel because I love this club so much that I also feel frustrated and hurt," the former England coach said.
Second from Newcastle didn't improve its position by failing to score at Bolton which is expected to be a relegation candidate.
"It will turn, we need a bit of luck," said veteran Magpies manager Bobby Robson. ``The players are disappointed because we've dropped two points, and we know that.
Manchester City needed an equalizer three minutes into injury time from Paulo Wanchope to salvage a point at Fulham after Kevin Keegan's men had squandered the lead. Nicolas Anelka gave City the lead but French stars Steed Malbranque and Louis Saha netted for Fulham.
Aston Villa started with Juan Pablo Angel and Marcus Allback in attack against Charlton but it was defenders Ozalan Alpay and JLloyd Samuel who scored. A twice taken penalty by Robbie Savage put Birmingham on the road to victory at Leeds with Mikael Forssell, on loan from Chelsea, adding the second.
Lucas Neill and Andy Cole netted Blackburn's goals at promoted Portsmouth.
Wigan stayed top of division one and moved two points clear after a 1-0 victory over Watford.
West Ham, which will have new manager Alan Pardew taking over in a month's time, lost 2-0 at Gillingham where Jermain Defoe was sent off while Estonian goalkeeper Mart Poom scored a last minute equalizer for Sunderland at former club Derby in 1-1 tie.
Spanish League
Substitute Miguel Angel "Mista" Ferrer netted two second-half goals Saturday as Valencia crushed Atletico de Madrid 3-0 and moved to the top of the Spanish league standings.
Spanish international midfielder Vicente Rodriguez also struck after halftime in Valencia's third victory in four games this season.
In another fourth-round game, defender Jose Izquierdo scored a 70th-minute own-goal to earn a disappointing FC Barcelona a 1-1 home draw with Osasuna. Defender Cesar Cruchaga gave Osasuna the lead in the 54th minute.
Valencia has 10 points from four games, while Deportivo de La Coruna has nine points from three matches. Barcelona lies third, with eight points from four. Real Madrid and Osasuna are a point behind.
Deportivo will regain first place if it wins its home game against last-place Albacete on Sunday. Real Madrid was visiting 19th-place Malaga.
Sunday's other games were: Mallorca versus Sevilla; Villarreal versus Celta de Vigo; Valladolid versus Espanyol; Real Sociedad versus Zaragoza; Real Betis versus Racing de Santander; and Murcia versus Athletic de Bilbao.
Valencia enjoyed a comfortable victory and extended its unbeaten record to seven matches on its visits to Atletico.
Valencia created much more danger in the first half. Vicente and Argentine international forward Pablo Aimar both shot narrowly wide, while Atletico goalkeeper German Burgos produced an acrobatic save to deny Spanish international midfielder Ruben Baraja.
Atletico's fortunes briefly improved when its recent signing from Mallorca, Argentine midfielder Ariel Ibagaza, entered the game as a 50th-minute substitute.
Atletico midfielder Diego Rivas almost marked his league debut with a 58th-minute goal when his fierce drive flew just over the bar after a double slip by goalkeeper Santiago Canizares.
Valencia ended Atletico's revival in the 68th minute when Vicente culminated a swift counterattack after confusion between several Atletico players had led them to lose possession.
German League
Stuttgart went to the top of the Bundesliga for the first time in seven years by beating Borussia Dortmund 1-0 on Saturday, while 10-man Bayern Munich lost ground by drawing 3-3 at home with Bayer Leverkusen.
Kevin Kuranyi broke the deadlock and his scoring drought with a fine header in the 67th minute to secure Stuttgart's victory. Felix Magath's team, runner-up last season, still hasn't conceded a goal in six games. Although it has only scored six, Stuttgart has collected 14 points, one more than Leverkusen.
Kuranyi had 15 goals last season but he had gone scoreless in the first five games.
"I am glad we won and that I got my first goal of the season," Kuranyi said. "It's great that we are leaders again after such a long time. But there are a lot of good teams in the Bundesliga and a lot of competition."
Leverkusen dropped to second and was nearly beaten by Bayern despite playing with one man more since the 57th minute. Yildiray Basturk tied the game in the 81st, while Michael Ballack missed a penalty for Bayern, which trailed twice.
Werder Bremen moved into third by beating 1860 Munich 2-1 and Wolfsburg rose to fourth with a 3-2 win in Cologne. In other matches, Freiburg beat Schalke 2-1, Hannover downed Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0 and Bochum drew 2-2 with Hertha Berlin.
Bayern dropped to fifth place after settling for the draw against Leverkusen, which has not won in Munich in 10 games. The match drew 63,000 fans on the opening day of the Oktoberfest.
Scottish League
Henrik Larsson celebrated his 32nd birthday by sparking a 3-0 Celtic victory over Motherwell Saturday as Martin O'Neill's team continued its weekly game of leapfrog with defending champion Rangers.
Chris Sutton and Shaun Maloney also scored at Parkhead and the victory enabled Celtic to jump to the top with 16 points from six games.
Rangers, which has 15 from five, goes to third place Hearts on Sunday bidding to maintain its 100 percent start to the campaign with another win.
Celtic had scored 10 goals in its previous two home games and looked like being thwarted by Motherwell who ensured the game was scoreless until half time.
Larsson finally broke 'Well's resistance in the 47th minute before Sutton added a second in the 64th and Maloney a third six minutes later.
Elsewhere, Tom Cowan scored on his debut as Dundee posted its first home league win over Aberdeen for 15 years. After the Dons' David Zdrilic had hit the post from a penalty, Nacho Novo added a second eight minutes from the end.
Goals by Sean Hessey and Kris Boyd earned Kilmarnock a 2-1 win at Livingston although Killy's Barry McLaughlin was sent off for a second yellow card.
Two goals by Charlie Miller earned Dundee United its first win of the season at Partick. It was enough to lift Ian McCall's team off last place and leave Thistle in its place.
Dunfermline and Hibernian fought out a 0-0 tie on a new artificial but grass-like playing surface at East End Park.
"It wasn't the greatest of games, but that could have happened on any surface and it will be interesting to see what the players think of it," said Scottish Football Association chief executive David Taylor.
"There is a natural tendency for older people in the game to be opposed to this idea and I know as a youngster that I preferred to play on grass.
"But this is part of the future of football. FIFA have used it in the Under-17 tournaments and if young players are brought up on this surface then they will get used to it.
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