Blackburn Rovers’ Ryan Nelson (left) challenges Chelsea’s Didier Drogba during the EPL match, in Blackburn, on Saturday. (Reuters)

London: Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United established their usual top three positions in the Premier League with gritty victories but Manchester City lost ground with their second successive defeat on Saturday.

Leaders Chelsea snatched a 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers through a late Branislav Ivanovic strike and Alex Song’s 88th-minute header secured a 1-0 home win for Arsenal over West Ham United.

Manchester United, who have not lost at home to Tottenham Hotspur for 21 years, notched up another win in the series as a Nemanja Vidic header and a bizarre late goal by Nani secured a 2-0 success.

Manchester City followed last week’s 3-0 loss to Arsenal by going down 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton beat Stoke City 1-0 with Aiyegbeni Yakubu's first goal of the season. Fulham beat Wigan Athletic 2-0 thanks to two goals by Clint Dempsey.

Chelsea lead the table with 25 points from 10 games, five ahead of Arsenal and United and eight clear of City.

Autumn games against mid-table opposition are often looked back upon as decisive in the title race and the top four may come to see October 30 as a key date in their seasons.

Blackburn were well on top of a lacklustre Chelsea in the early stages and took a deserved lead through Benjani Mwaruwari after 21 minutes before the visitors hit back through Nicolas Anelka six minutes before halftime.

Chelsea, held 1-1 by Blackburn last season, eventually awoke from their torpor but struggled to create chances until Yuri Zhirkov's cross was headed home by Ivanovic after 84 minutes. It was an all-action start at Old Trafford as Ji-sung Park hit a post with a shot for United and Rafael van der Vaart doing the same for Spurs.

Both sides showed plenty of invention and attacking intent but the breakthrough came from a straightforward set-piece goal as Vidic headed home a Nani free kick after 31 minutes.

Spurs then lost the impressive Van der Vaart with a hamstring strain that could keep him out of Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan but the bad day was far from finished.

In an incident that will be replayed relentlessly, Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes thought he had been awarded a free kick and placed the ball on the ground in front of his goal. (Reuters)