Chelsea win as United stunned by Blackburn

Chelsea conceded a goal for the first time this season, but a Frank Lampard double allowed the champions to recover and stretch their winning start to the Premiership campaign to seven matches.

A 2-1 win over Aston Villa kept Jose Mourinho's men six points clear of second-placed Charlton, who won 2-1 at West Brom.

More importantly, it extended their advantage over title rivals Manchester United to ten points after Alex Ferguson's side slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat by Blackburn.

Arsenal also lost ground on the leaders after being forced to settle for a point in a goalless draw at West Ham, while Blackburn moved up to third thanks to a 1-0 win over Portsmouth, sealed by Kevin Nolan's overhead kick.

Villa striker Luke Moore had the honour of becoming the first player to breach Chelsea's defence this season, latching on to Juan Pablo Angel's flick-on to fire past Petr Cech just before the break.

It was the first goal Chelsea had conceded in 641 minutes of Premiership football and it earned Moore a 10,000-pound reward put up by The Sun newspaper.

His celebrations were curtailed however as the champions took barely a minute to get back on level terms through a Lampard free-kick.

Lampard then sealed the victory for the champions with a textbook penalty conversion 15 minutes from time after Olof Mellberg fouled Didier Drogba.

A clearly relieved Mourinho shrugged off the loss of his side's impressive clean sheet record. "It's not normal that you don't concede for so long," he said. "It is normal to concede. I'm happy it wasn't a mistake by one of our players."

Two goals from Morten Gamst Pedersen gave Blackburn a 2-1 win at Old Trafford that dealt a huge blow to United's chances of reclaiming the title.

Ruud van Nistelrooy cancelled out Pedersen's first-half free-kick but the Norwegian snatched a winner against the run of play nine minutes from time.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his side now face a daunting task to catch Chelsea.

"I am concerned at the gap between us and Chelsea but I am more concerned with getting our game back together and playing with enjoyment and passion that is the most important thing," the Scot said.

"We had a lot of opportunities but we didn't take them. We can have no complaints and we have only ourselves to blame."

West Ham and Arsenal's meeting had been billed as a contest between the two most entertaining sides in the league. But it never really ignited and both sides appeared happy to settle for a draw that keeps the Hammers above their London rivals in the table.

Arsenal are 12 points adrift of Chelsea, but manager Arsene Wenger insists the title race is far from over.

"It would be very boring between now and May if I started saying that it's all over," he said.

"Chelsea have conceded a goal for the first time so that's good news for everybody but it's no surprise that they beat Aston Villa at home. We had a difficult derby to play."

Danny Murphy claimed a first-half double as Charlton held on to second place at West Brom.

Murphy's first came from the penalty spot after Steve Watson pulled down Jerome Thomas as he broke into the box.

The second was a tap-in from Dennis Rommedahl's cross after the pacy Danish winger had burst clear on the right.

Defender Curtis Davies pulled one back for the Baggies six minutes after the restart but Bryan Robson's side could not convert a late siege into an equaliser.

Birmingham teenager Neil Kilkenny was sent off on his Premiership debut as Liverpool grabbed a late equaliser in a dramatic 2-2 draw at St Andrews.

Kilkenny, 19, received a straight red card after punching Jamie Carragher's goal-bound header off the line with eight minutes left, conceding a penalty that Djibril Cisse converted to earn the European champions their fourth draw from five Premiership matches this season.

A Stephen Warnock own goal and Walter Pandiani's first of the season - a tap-in following a blunder by Liverpool keeper Jose Reina - had put Birmingham on track for all three points after Luis Garcia had come off the bench to give Liverpool the lead.

Everton's early season woes intensified with a home defeat at the hands of Wigan. Former Norwich striker Damien Francis condemned David Moyes's side to their fifth defeat in six matches with a 46th-minute strike.

Michael Owen scored for the second week in a row to earn Newcastle a 1-0 win over Manchester City in front of a delighted St James's Park.

The 18th-minute strike was a typical Owen effort, Lee Bowyer's pass allowing him to spring the offside trap and finish with a toe-poke past David James.

Source: China Daily