Manchester City hung on to beat Wolverhampton 4-3 and move past Manchester United for the Premier League lead Saturday, defending champion Chelsea beat Blackburn to end a two-match winless streak, and Arsenal compounded West Ham's woes.
After Kolo Toure canceled out Nenad Milijas' opener for Wolves, City went ahead 4-1 in the second half through Carlos Tevez's double and Yaya Toure's strike.
But Kevin Doyle and Ronald Zubar struck back to give City a scare.
City went a point ahead of United, which plays the first of three games in hand at Tottenham on Sunday.
Tottenham was dislodged from fourth place - temporarily at least - when Chelsea beat Blackburn 2-0.
Arsenal remains third after a 3-0 victory at West Ham, whose manager Avram Grant was facing an uncertain future with the team rock bottom in the standings.
Chelsea secured only its second win in its last 10 league games after Branislav Ivanovic scored and then set up Nicolas Anelka.
Arsenal leads Chelsea by five points after its blanking of West Ham on two goals by Robin van Persie, including a penalty shot in the 77th, and one by Theo Walcott.
Also, West Bromwich moved four points clear of the relegation zone by beating Blackpool 3-2 to end a run of six successive defeats, Bolton was consigned to its fifth consecutive away defeat as Stoke won 2-0, and Andrew Johnson scored a late goal after collecting a pass from American Clint Dempsey to salvage a 1-1 draw for Fulham at Wigan.
---
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) - American midfielder Maurice Edu scored his first goal of the Scottish Premier League season as Rangers routed Hamilton 4-0.
While Rangers is five points behind leader Celtic in second, they have three games in hand over their Glasgow rival, which beat Hibernian 3-0.
Edu sealed the Rangers' win in the 82nd minute after two goals from Vladimir Weiss and Steven Whittaker's penalty kick.
''Feels good getting back on score sheet, but wasn't as sharp as I'd like,'' Edu wrote on Twitter.
---
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Ruben ''Cani'' Garcia scored from the halfway line to help Villarreal to a 4-2 win over Osasuna and solidify its hold on third place at the midway point of the Spanish season.
Three minutes after Krisztian Vadocz's 47th-minute header canceled out Marco Ruben's opener for Villarreal, Cani caught goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez off his line and beat him with a lob from 50 yards out.
Joan Capdevila made it 3-1 for Villarreal in the 65th and substitute Javier Calleja added drama to the match with Osasuna's second in the 71st, but Gonzalo Rodriguez sealed the win a late header.
Villarreal's first win over Osasuna at El Madrigal in four seasons provisionally lifted it five points clear of fourth-place Valencia.
Also, Real Sociedad routed Getafe 4-0, Sporting Gijon beat Hercules 2-0, Zaragoza edged Levante 1-0, Athletic Bilbao beat Racing Santander 2-1, and Espanyol won 2-1 at Sevilla.
---
MILAN (AP) - Inter Milan routed visiting Bologna 4-1 in the Serie A to improve to 4-0 since Leonardo replaced Rafa Benitez as coach.
Dejan Stankovic and Diego Milito scored in the first half and Samuel Eto'o had two goals in the second, giving him 23 goals in 27 games in all competitions for Inter this season, including 11 in the league. Inter captain Javier Zanetti played his 519th game for the club, equaling the team record held by 1982 World Cup-winner Giuseppe Bergomi.
Substitute Henry Jiminez scored for Bologna in the 77th.
Also, Napoli failed to close to within a point of Milan when it was held to a 0-0 tie at home by Fiorentina.
---
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Bayern Munich wasted a chance to pull within a point of second place in the Bundesliga by conceding a late goal in a 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg in a match that saw the return of one star and an injury to another.
Thomas Mueller scored in the seventh minute for Bayern, which twice hit the post, including once on a missed penalty.
Sascha Riether equalized in the 86th for Wolfsburg, which also failed to convert a penalty as new goalkeeper Thomas Kraft made a superb Bundesliga debut for Munich.
Bayern was dealt a blow when star playmaker Franck Ribery limped off after 25 minutes with a left leg injury. Dutch star Arjen Robben replaced him, making his season debut in his first match since the World Cup final in South Africa.
Bayern has lost only once in its last 11 matches, and moved to fifth place, three points behind second-placed Mainz, which lost 1-0 at Stuttgart.
Hannover can jump to second with a victory on Sunday at Eintracht Frankfurt.
