First half goals by Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka steered Chelsea to a routine win and put them on 17 points from seven matches, the same as Liverpool who trailed 2-0 before a Fernando Torres double and Dirk Kuyt’s stoppage time winner.
Tottenham Hotspur remained rooted to the bottom of the table after losing 1-0 at home to Hull City as the pressure mounted on manager Juande Ramos. Promoted Hull are third with 14 points.
Newcastle United ended a five-match losing sequence when they recovered from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Everton in Joe Kinnear’s first match since being named the struggling club’s interim manager.
Portsmouth beat Stoke City 2-1, England strikers Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch both on target. Gianfranco Zola suffered his first league defeat as manager of West Ham United when they slumped 3-1 at home to Bolton Wanderers.
With Liverpool trailing 2-0 at halftime to goals by Stephen Ireland and Javier Garrido it looked like Chelsea were heading for a three-point cushion in the early title race.
However, Torres, who hardly got a kick in the first half, burst into life. He halved the deficit with a simple finish after a slick move that ended with an Alvaro Arbeloa cross.
Robinho should have put City 3-1 ahead but instead the home side had Pablo Zabaleta sent off for a bad tackle on Xabi Alonso before Torres headed in an equaliser.
The Spaniard should have completed his hat-trick when he wasted a glorious chance from Robbie Keane’s cross but it did not prove too costly as Kuyt slotted a dramatic winner after a Torres shot deflected into his path.
Tottenham’s early-season crisis shows no sign of easing as Hull won for the second week running in north London.
Results:
Played on Sunday:
Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 0
Everton 2 Newcastle United 2
Manchester City 2 Liverpool 3
Portsmouth 2 Stoke City 1
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Hull City 1
West Ham United 1 Bolton Wanderers 3
Played on Saturday:
Blackburn Rovers 0 Manchester United 2
Sunderland 1 Arsenal 1
West Bromwich Albion 1 Fulham 0
Wigan Athletic 0 Middlesbrough 1
—Reuters