Chelsea broke a deadlock atop the Premier League table on Saturday by beating Newcastle, while Manchester City settled for a draw at Everton and fell two points behind in the title race.
Newcastle looked like they might cause a shock in the opening exchanges against Chelsea, but Oscar netted just before half-time and laid on a wonderful pass to Diego Costa to secure a 2-0 win.
Petr Cech retained his place in the Chelsea goal with Thibaut Courtois nursing a hand injury and he was the busier goalkeeper as Newcastle wasted a number of chances, with Moussa Sissoko coming closest as he hit the frame of the goal, before Oscar opened the scoring close to half-time.
Diego Costa doubled their advantage just before the hour-mark and that was always going to be enough to secure a vital three points for Chelsea.
Manchester City lost ground in the title race after dropping two points against a dogged Everton at Goodison Park in a 1-1 draw.
Manuel Pellegrini's side were far from at their best and even the return from injury of leading scorer Sergio Aguero as a second-half substitute could not get them over the line.
Fernandinho put them in front in the 74th minute but Steven Naismith's glancing header earned a deserved 1-1 draw for the hosts.
Lazar Markovic struck his first league goal for Liverpool as Brendan Rodgers' men made hard work of seeing off 10-man Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light.
The 20 million-pound summer signing from Benfica fired home in the ninth minute but despite a dominant performance the visitors missed numerous chances to make the game safe against the below-par hosts.
And after Liam Bridcutt was harshly red-carded in the 49th minute for tripping Emre Can it was Gus Poyet's men who came closest to a leveller when Adam Johnson clattered a long-range effort against the bar, but it was to remain 1-0 to the visitors.
Bafetimbi Gomis made the most of his start in the absence of Wilfried Bony as he netted the equaliser for Swansea as they held West Ham to a 1-1 draw.
The Hammers had gone ahead through a wonderful strike from Andy Carroll and the Swans had Lukasz Fabianski to thanks for some wonderful saves to keep the game level.
Burnley climbed out of the relegation zone at Queens Park Rangers' expense as they triumphed 2-1 at Turf Moor.
Scott Arfield opened the scoring for the Clarets before Charlie Austin levelled on 33 minutes from the penalty spot. But Burnley regained the lead before half-time via Danny Ings and held on for three points as QPR fell to another loss (a Premier League record 10th) on the road this season.
Saido Berahino's scoring hot-streak continued as Tony Pulis' first Premier League game in charge of West Brom saw the Baggies beat Hull 1-0 at The Hawthorns to move two points clear of the relegation zone.
Berahino followed up his four goals in last weekend's 7-0 FA Cup thrashing of Gateshead by cracking the ball home in the 78th minute, the England under-21 striker being teed up from an indirect free-kick in the box awarded for Ahmed Elmohamady's backpass to Allan McGregor.
Leicester's revival continued as Paul Konchesky's winner handed them a valuable 1-0 victory over poor Aston Villa.
The Foxes extended their unbeaten run to four games in all competitions in front of the watching Andrej Kramaric as the striker waits to complete his club record move from Rijeka.
He saw Konchesky, who was controversially sent off at Villa last month before having the red rescinded, lash in the winner seconds before the break. Both sides were reduced to 10 men in injury-time when Matty James and Ciaran Clark were sent off after clashing.
Alan Pardew's first Premier League match in charge of Crystal Palace ended in victory as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Selhurst Park.
In-form Spurs striker Harry Kane opened the scoring, arrowing low into the corner four minutes after half-time.
But Palace levelled via Dwight Gayle's penalty after a foul by Benjamin Stambouli, before Jason Puncheon completed the turnaround with 10 minutes left.