Arsenal top as rivals falter

Two goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and an Eduardo da Silva strike handed Arsenal FC victory at Manchester City FC to take Arsène Wenger's side to the top of the Premier League while their rivals Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC both dropped points.

Form striker
Adebayor struck for the eleventh time in eight matches, nine minutes into Arsenal's trip to Manchester when he fired in from close range and they looked to be cruising when Eduardo acrobatically volleyed past Joe Hart 17 minutes later. The hosts did pull a goal back almost immediately through Gelson Fernandes but Arsenal wrapped up the points two minutes from time when Adebayor pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area.

United beaten
The victory gave Wenger's side a two-point advantage over Manchester United, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal's north London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur FC - Dimitar Berbatov opening the scoring at White Hart Lane on 21 minutes before Carlos Tévez snatched a last-minute equaliser. Meanwhile, Chelsea are six points adrift after they could only draw 1-1 at Portsmouth FC.

Everton denied
Elsewhere, Everton FC were denied the chance to tighten their grip on fourth after a 0-0 draw away against Blackburn Rovers FC. It allowed Liverpool FC to move to within a point of their Merseyside rivals after a 3-0 victory against Sunderland FC, with Peter Crouch, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard all on target. In other games, bottom side Derby County FC collected their second point this week with a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City FC, Reading FC slipped down to 17th after 2-0 defeat against Bolton Wanderers FC and Wigan Athletic FC moved out of the relegation zone with 1-0 victory against West Ham United FC.