Leaderboard more like it after Gunners fire six,United four

Chelsea and City failed to win but the European champions stayed top after the west London derby at Queens Park Rangers finished in a 0-0 stalemate ending their 100 percent record. Champions Manchester City also dropped 0points in a 1-1 draw at Stoke City where Peter Crouch put the home side ahead with the clear use of his arm before Spaniard Javi Garcia replied with a debut header from a Carlos Tevez cross. Leaders Chelsea have 10 points from four matches followed by Manchester United (9),Arsenal (8) and Manchester City (8). In the late game,Liverpool drew 1-1 at Sunderland leaving them in 17th place with just two points from their opening four games — their worst league start for 101 years. Steven Fletcher opened the scoring for Sunderland after 29 minutes with their first shot on target before Luis Suarez equalised for Liverpool 19 minutes from time to salvage a point.

No handshake

The build-up to the match at Loftus Road was overshadowed by whether QPR’s Anton Ferdinand would shake hands with Chelsea’s John Terry and Ashley Cole after Terry was cleared in court of racially abusing Ferdinand in the same fixture last season. Cole defended his team mate in the court case in July,and in the event Ferdinand snubbed them both while the visiting players were given a torrid afternoon by the home fans.

Both teams had chances to win until the dying moments and Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo said he was pleased to leave with a point.

United closed to within a point of Chelsea with victory over Wigan but they struggled at first and missed a third minute penalty when it appeared Danny Welbeck went down under minimal contact but Javier Hernandez missed from the spot. It took United until the 51st minute to take the lead when Scholes scored,before Hernandez made it 2-0 and debutants Alex Buttner and Nick Powell completed the rout. As well as Scholes making his 700th United appearance,Ryan Giggs was playing his 600th Premier League match and Rio Ferdinand featured for the club for the 400th time.

Arsenal also had a thumping win with a first half display saw them take a 4-0 lead over Southampton. Goals from Lukas Podolski,Gervinho (double),Theo Walcott and own goals from Jos Hooiveld and Nathaniel Clyne settled the rout. Swansea City,who started the day in second place,slipped to fifth after losing 2-0 at Aston Villa where Paul Lambert won for the first time as the team’s new manager.

West Bromwich Albion,who went into the game in third spot,lost 3-0 at Fulham where Dimitar Berbatov scored twice,including a penalty.