LONDON, Nov 22: Arsenal made light of the absence of six first team regulars as they beat Birmingham on Saturday to extend their unbeaten start to the season to 13 games, a new record for the Premiership.

Goals from Freddie Ljungberg, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires secured a 3-0 away win that keeps the Premiership leaders a point ahead of Chelsea, who came away from Southampton with a 1-0 victory.

Manchester United remain a point further back in third after a 2-1 win over Blackburn in their lunchtime clash at Old Trafford.

At the bottom, Leeds’ woes deepened as they slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Bolton.

Arsenal’s winner came after Birmingham captain Kenny Cunningham had a clearance charged down by Bergkamp, who teed up Ljungberg to fire past Maik Taylor.

The win will have come as a major relief for Gunners boss Arsene Wenger who had to do without Patrick Vieira, Ray Parlour, Martin Keown and Lauren because of suspension, as well as the injured Sylvain Wiltord and the jet-lagged Gilberto, who only returned from international duty with Brazil late on Friday.

Arsenal have now made the best start to the season of any team since the Premiership was launched in 1992-93.

Wenger’s men however still have some way to go to match the all-time top flight record of 29 games, shared by the 1987-88 Liverpool and 1973-74 Leeds sides.

First half goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy and Brazilian midfielder Kleberson, both created by South African midfielder Quinton Fortune, put United in control against Blackburn.

Blackburn got back into the match just after the hour mark when teenager Paul Gallagher sent Australian midfielder Brett Emerton racing clear of the United back four and the Old Trafford crowd had to endure a nervous finale before seeing the three points secured.

Results:

Birmingham City 0 Arsenal 3

Everton 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0

Leeds United 0 Bolton Wanderers 2

Leicester City 1 Charlton Athletic 1

Manchester United 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

Middlesbrough 0 Liverpool 0

Newcastle United 3 Manchester City 0

Southampton 0 Chelsea 1

Playing on Sunday: Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa (1605 GMT)

Playing on Monday: Fulham v Portsmouth (2000)

Scottish premier league results

Dundee United 1 Celtic 5

Dunfermline Athletic 2 Dundee 0

Motherwell 1 Livingston 1

Partick Thistle 2 Kilmarnock 4

Rangers 3 Aberdeen 0

Bundesliga results

VfL Wolfsburg 1 Borussia M’bach 3

VfB Stuttgart 3 Hanover 96 1

Werder Bremen 3 VfL Bochum 1

Cologne 0 Hamburg SV 1

TSV 1860 Munich 0 Bayern Munich 1

Borussia Dortmund 2 Bayer Leverkusen 2

Schalke 04 0 Hansa Rostock 1

—AFP/Reuters