Manchester United fought back from 2-0 down to triumph 3-2 at Aston Villa, and Arsenal chucked away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday.
Javier Hernandez's double and Ron Vlaar's own goal completed the turnaround that took United four points clear of Chelsea at the top of the table. Chelsea hosts Liverpool today.
"We did put pressure on ourselves today but we came through it," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "The lesson is we need to do better defensively. I admire the tenacity of the performance, though."
At Arsenal, Mikel Arteta had a penalty saved in stoppage time as the draw prolonged the north London team's worst start to a league season since Arsene Wenger took charge in 1996.
Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski put Arsenal ahead, but Fulham drew level before halftime as Dimitar Berbatov and Alex Kacaniklic scored from free headers. Berbatov put Fulham ahead from the penalty spot after the break but Giroud headed Arsenal level with his second goal.
Everton beat Sunderland 2-1 to stay fourth and ahead of West Bromwich Albion, which won at Wigan by the same scoreline.
Queens Park Rangers is bottom after losing 1-0 at Stoke, but Southampton moved a point further up after drawing 1-1 with Swansea, while Reading drew 0-0 with Norwich.
United had looked set to lose its third match of the season when Andreas Weimann scored twice.
In first-half stoppage time, he was true with a rising first-time shot from just inside the penalty area, and in the opening five minutes of the second half, Weimann smashed the ball in after being set up by Gabriel Agbonlahor.
But Hernandez, who replaced Ashley Young at halftime, began United's comeback in the 58th, slipping the ball past Brad Guzan after latching onto Paul Scholes' pass.
Five minutes later, United was level after Hernandez's shot from Rafael da Silva's cross deflected in off Vlaar past Guzan.
After United twice hit the woodwork, Hernandez sealed the three points for United in the 88th by heading in from Robin van Per-sie's free kick.
Hernandez, though, was claiming a hat trick.
"I think I hit the target and the defender touched the ball," the Mexico striker said of United's second goal. "That's the decision of the referee, but I've just seen the replay and that was definitely hitting the target."
