City, needing a four-goal victory to overtake leaders Chelsea, had to settle for a point as Paulo Wanchope grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser after Fulham’s Steed Malbranque and Louis Saha had cancelled out Nicolas Anelka’s opener.
Chelsea had earlier reached the summit when Hernan Crespo scored twice, his first goals for the club, in a 5-0 thrashing of woeful Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Portsmouth’s unbeaten start came to an end as they went down 2-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers but south coast rivals Southampton maintained their impressive start, piling pressure on former manager Glenn Hoddle with a 3-1 victory at troubled Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool kept in touch with the leaders thanks to a 2-1 victory over Leicester City — England strikers Michael Owen and Emile Heskey both on target - but Newcastle United remain without a win after being held to a goalless home draw by Bolton Wanderers.
Results
Aston Villa 2 Charlton Athletic 1
Fulham 2 Manchester City 2
Leeds United 0 Birmingham City 2
Liverpool 2 Leicester City 1
Newcastle United 0 Bolton Wanderers 0
Portsmouth 1 Blackburn Rovers 2
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Southampton 3
Wolves 0 Chelsea 5
Playing on Sunday: Manchester United v Arsenal (1505 GMT) Middlesbrough v Everton (1300)
STUTTGART GO TOP
BERLIN: VfB Stuttgart extended their unbeaten run to six with a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Saturday that also put them at the top of the Bundesliga standings.
Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi hit the winner after the break for last season’s runners-up, the only unbeaten side six games into the season.
Bayer Leverkusen dropped from the top to second place a point back after a spectacular 3-3 draw with 10-man Bayern Munich at the Olympic stadium.
Champions Bayern, who missed a penalty in the first half and had Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto sent off after the interval, remain fifth and are now three points off the pace.
Results:
Hanover 96 2 B. Moenchengladbach 0
SC Freiburg 2 Schalke 04 1
VfB Stuttgart 1 Borussia Dortmund 0
Werder Bremen 2 TSV 1860 Munich 1
Cologne 2 VfL Wolfsburg 3
Bayern Munich 3 Bayer Leverkusen 3
VfL Bochum 2 Hertha Berlin 2
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS
Celtic 3 Motherwell 0
Dundee 2 Aberdeen 0
Dunfermline Athletic 0 Hibernian 0
Livingston 1 Kilmarnock 2
Partick Thistle 0 Dundee United 2
—Reuters