Chelsea charged to the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Liverpool Sunday while Arsenal twice fell behind before crushing Blackburn 6-2. After champion Manchester United had been held 2-2 at home by Sunderland Saturday, Chelsea took full advantage by beating another title rival at Stamford Bridge with Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda scoring second half goals. Anelka stretched out a leg to turn home a cross from co-striker Drogba in the 60th minute and Malouda added the other in the final minute from another Drogba cross to give Chelsea its seventh victory in eight games and make up for last weekend's surprise 3-1 loss at Wigan. For Liverpool, its third defeat means it has now lost more games than the whole of last season when it finished runner up to United. Rafa Benitez's team is now in fifth place and six points behind Chelsea. Although goals by Steven Nzonzi and David Dunn threatened an upset at the Emirates Stadium, the Gunners replied through Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin before half time. Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner added three more in the second half for Arsenal's fifth victory in seven games. Walcott was making his first appearance of the season. The victory gives Arsenal 15 points with a game in hand on most of its rivals while Blackburn remains in the lower half of the standings. This was Arsenal's first game since Arsene Wenger, who joined the Gunners in September 1996, became the club's longest serving manager. Barcelona striker Thierry Henry, who spent eight years under Wenger at Arsenal, was in the crowd to see this impressive fight-back. Stoke captured a point with a 1-1 draw away to Everton and West Ham scored an injury time equalizer to finish 2-2 at home against Fulham. Ronaldinho saves Milan In Milan, Sampdoria drew 1-1 at home to Parma to move level on points with Serie A leader Inter Milan Sunday. Giampaolo Pazzini gave Sampdoria the lead in the 23rd minute, but Parma drew level with a goal from Daniele Galloppa in the 30th. Juventus then failed to take advantage of Sampdoria's draw, slumping to a 2-0 loss away to Palermo in the late match. Edinson Cavani and Fabio Semplicio scored first half goals to hand Juventus its first defeat of the season. Inter, which beat Udinese 2-1 Saturday, is top with 16 points, ahead of Sampdoria on goal difference. Juventus is third with 14, the same number of points as Fiorentina. AC Milan needed a goal six minutes from time by Ronaldinho to avoid an embarrassing defeat away to 10-man Atalanta and ease the pressure on beleaguered coach Leonardo. Also Sunday, it was; Bologna 1, Genoa 3; Cagliari 1, Chievo Verona 2; Fiorentina 0, Lazio 0; AS Roma 2, Napoli 1; and Siena 0, Livorno 0.
