Unbeaten Villa frustrate Chelsea

Chelsea captain John Terry (L) congratulates Didier Drogba after the striker scored against Aston Villa during the Premiership match at Stamford Bridge. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Aston Villa have maintained their unbeaten start to the season by holding Chelsea to a 1-1 draw that could cost the champions their place at the top of the Premiership.

Villa's battling display epitomised the resilience they have acquired since Martin O'Neill took over as manager in the close season.

It also means that Manchester United and Portsmouth will overtake Jose Mourinho's men at the top of the table if they win their matches on Sunday, at home to Newcastle and away to Tottenham respectively.

Gabriel Agbonlahor's header in first-half injury time earned Villa their point at Stamford Bridge after Didier Drogba had bundled in a close range effort in only the third minute.

But the visitors also had reason to be grateful to their goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, who pulled off a string of stunning saves to deny Jose Mourinho's stars.

Arsenal's Robin Van Persie (C) celebrates after scoring against Charlton. Arsenal won 2-1.

Arsenal chalked up their fifth straight win and got Arsene Wenger's second decade in charge off to a good start by coming from behind to claim a 2-1 win over Charlton that was sealed by a stunning strike from Robin van Persie.

England under-21 striker Darren Bent had given Charlton the lead mid-way through the first half with his fifth goal of the season.

But his effort was cancelled out by van Persie ten minutes later and the Dutch winger settled the contest by volleying Emmanuel Eboue's cutback cross into the top corner of the net four minutes after the break.

Liverpool's status as the side considered Chelsea's biggest rivals for the title took another knock when Rafa Benitez's team went down to a 2-0 defeat at Bolton, who moved up to second in the table ahead of Sunday's matches.

A Gary Speed free-kick which Jose Reina might have saved and an Ivan Campo header condemned the Reds to their third away defeat of the season.

Everton's Andrew Johnson celebrates after scoring against Manchester City during their Premiership match at Goodison Park. The match ended in a 1-1 draw after Micah Richards scored a 90th-minute equaliser for City.

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce claimed his players had been fired up by Benitez's pre-match comments suggesting they were overly physical in their approach.

"Footballers are always going to raise their game against a team like Liverpool because of the quality players that they have at their disposal, but what Rafa said just meant my players played longer and harder." Allardyce claimed.

Everton were denied the chance of climbing to second in the table when Micah Richards scored a 90th-minute equaliser for Manchester City at Goodison Park.

Everton, who have matched Villa's unbeaten start to the season, had looked on track for victory after Andrew Johnson claimed his sixth Premiership goal of the season a minute before half-time.

The England striker caught Phil Neville's cross on the volley and found the the net with the help of a deflection off City captain Sylvain Distin.

English Premiership table after Saturday's 1300GMT kick-offs (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):