Chelsea claimed a 3-1 win over Norwich while Liverpool moved top and Aston Villa and Wolves played out a derby day stalemate.
Mata's debut delight; Reds go top; Derby day stalemate; Deadly Di Santo; Swans tame Black Cats; Arteta leaves it late
Chelsea are still finding their feet under Andre Villas-Boas but they keep picking up the points, as a late rally saw off Norwich on an afternoon when Wolves claimed joint top-spot courtesy of a goalless stalemate at Aston Villa and Liverpool beat Bolton.
A game of three penalties at Ewood Park went the way of Everton as Mikel Arteta kept his nerve in the final minute to do what Junior Hoilett and Mauro Formica had failed to do before him for Blackburn.
Swansea and Sunderland played out a goalless stalemate at the Liberty Stadium, while Wigan picked up their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over a Queens Park Rangers side that did not feature new boy Joey Barton.
Chelsea are hardly playing the free-flowing football that so impressed at Porto last season but latest incumbent Villas-Boas appears to have the knack of winning points if not plaudits as a 3-1 victory over
Norwich flattered them considerably.
Jose Bosingwa is hardly a frequent goalscorer but there will be few strikes truer than the missile of an effort that flew off his right boot on six minutes in West London. Norwich's defenders retreated as Chelsea's slick passing began to dominate to leave the Portuguese full-back acres to advance into, before he let fly with a jackhammer of a shot from 25 yards that gave John Ruddy not a prayer.
Norwich were far from cowed at falling behind though as Paul Lambert's side dug deep to conjure decent opportunities of their own as Chris Martin and Grant Holt both went close.
Not much improved for Chelsea after the half-time interval as they struggled for any kind of rhythm against a Norwich side who stood true to the passing principles. The goal the Canaries craved duly arrived on 63 minutes when Hilario hared from his line to attack a deep Kyle Naughton cross Branislav Ivanovic looked perfectly capable of dealing with. As the two collided the ball dropped invitingly to Holt, who used his striker's nous in deftly lobbing into an unguarded goal from around 15 yards.
Juan Mata was summoned from the bench to make his debut, while Nicolas Anelka was introduced in place of Didier Drogba, who was stretchered off with a serious looking head injury to generous applause.
Norwich were looking good for a share of the spoils until eight minutes from time when Ruddy conceded a penalty and was dismissed for a professional foul after he was rounded by Ramires.
Frank Lampard's record of late from 12 yards is dire but the England man stepped up to the plate to ram his spot-kick past Ruddy's replacement Declan Rudd.
It was left to Mata to have the final say as he marked his bow with a smartly finished goal after Ritchie De Laet inexplicably played blindly across his own goal.
Liverpool climbed above Chelsea on goal difference after producing an impressive performance in the day's late kick-off to overcome
Bolton 3-1 at Anfield.
Jordan Henderson broke the deadlock for the Reds on 15 minutes with a terrific finish into the top corner and Martin Skrtel made it 2-0 with a powerful header early in the second half.
Charlie Adam drove in a third almost immediately and, although Ivan Klasnic netted a late consolation, it mattered little as Liverpool moved on to seven points from three games.
Aston Villa and
Wolves retained their unbeaten starts to the new season as they played out a goalless stalemate that lacked for nothing in terms of perspiration but was a little shy of polish in the final third.
Of the two goalkeepers it was Wolves' Wayne Hennessey who was kept the busier as Gabriel Agbonlahor and Chris Herd both saw efforts repelled by the Welshman as Villa upped the tempo after a first half largely devoid of genuine opportunities.
Darren Bent nodded onto the top of Hennessey's net with a smart header back across goal but in truth a point apiece was probably about right for a contest unlikely to live too long in the memory.
Herd breathed a sigh of relief at the death when his clumsy aerial challenge on Wolves left-back Stephen Ward was judged legal when a fussier official could have pointed to the penalty spot.
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy is not a man to get carried away easily but even the gruff Yorkshireman would concede a seven-point haul from a possible nine will do for starters.
Since moving to
Wigan from Chelsea the goal record of Franco Di Santo has been more dismal than deadly but at the DW Stadium the form book was flipped as his double saw off
Queens Park Rangers.
An entertaining affair that saw both sides play expansive attacking football at times was decided by a player who in his previous 28 appearances for Wigan had troubled the scoresheet just once.
His first, four minutes before half-time, was a fine piece of opportunism that saw him flick the ball up from Hugo Rodallega's pass on the edge of the area with his first touch before dispatching a fine volley with his second; albeit with the aid of a slight deflection.
Prior to Di Santo's opener it was QPR captain Adel Taarabt who had been the game's outstanding performer as his curling effort from the edge of the area crashed off a post, before his exasperation was exacerbated on the stroke of half-time when a deflected free-kick was fumbled onto the woodwork by Ali Al Habsi.
Wigan continued to ride their luck after the interval as Bruno Perone struck the frame of Wigan's goal from Taarabt's corner for a third time, but not before the rejuvenated Di Santo had bagged a second as he took the ball off the toe of Rodallega on the edge of the area before swivelling smartly and rifling into the top corner again courtesy of a nick off a QPR defender.
Two sides in desperate need of a boost met at Ewood Park as
Everton won the spoils thanks to Arteta's last-gasp penalty that deflated an unfortunate
Blackburn.
Everton starlet Ross Barkley had the country's media eating out of the palm of his hand with a virtuoso display against Tottenham last week, but was less effective this time around as his tackle on Rovers substitute Formica presented Blackburn with a second-half penalty.
It was left to another exciting youngster Hoilett to take responsibility but he fired his penalty straight at Tim Howard and was ponderous on the rebound as the chance went begging.
Both sides endeavoured to find a winner as the home side went close to doing just that as the busy David Goodwillie struck the bar having come off the bench.
The Scotland international must have thought he had laid one on for Formica as he found his team-mate from a clever pullback, only for Howard to pull off an outstanding stop with his feet.
With Rovers in the ascendancy Formica repeated his trick of tempting defenders into challenges inside the penalty area, with Phil Jagielka the guilty party this time around. Formica stepped up himself but fared no better than Hoillet as his effort came back off the foot of a post.
It was left to Arteta to keep his nerve and deliver Everton the most welcome of three points as he dispatched after Christopher Samba was dubiously adjudged to have climbed over Marouane Fellaini from a long throw.
As has been the case for each of
Swansea's games this season an entertaining contest ensued as
Sunderland left the Liberty Stadium with a hard-fought point.
Steve Bruce has implored more from his players after a ponderous start to the season and they nearly got off to a flyer in Wales as John O'Shea glanced Sebastian Larsson's corner onto the crossbar.
As Swansea slowly began to get a foothold into the contest Nathan Dyer became increasingly influential as he crashed Sunderland's bar from range after a scorching run before directing a diving header just wide.
Danny Graham missed a gilt-edged chance to break his top-flight duck in directing a header wide on the stroke of half-time, before the second half proved a carbon copy of the first as both sides played some decent football but were guilty of profligacy in front of goal.
