Two goals from Wayne Rooney fired Manchester United to a 2-1 victory against Liverpool in a hostile encounter at Old Trafford.
Tensions ran high in Manchester, as Luis Suarez returned to the Liverpool starting 11 for the first time since he was suspended for racially abusing United defender Patrice Evra.
The Uruguayan intensified the drama by refusing to shake Evra's hand before kick-off, but poached a late goal to give Liverpool hope when United seemed to have control of the match.
Rooney, though, stole the show, as his two goals early in the second half proved enough to hand United three points and send them top of the Premier League table, with Manchester City still to play on Sunday.
Meanwhile a breathtaking opening half-hour marked by four assists from Emmanuel Adebayor propelled Tottenham to a 5-0 victory over Newcastle.
It was a week full of worry for everyone involved at Tottenham but the demolition of Alan Pardew's side at White Hart Lane will ease that anxiety.
Adebayor walked off the pitch the star man, scoring one and providing four assists for Louis Saha, who bagged a home debut brace, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Niko Kranjcar.
At Goodison Park Everton gained their second top-four scalp in two games by beating Chelsea 2-0.
David Moyes' men opened the scoring just five minutes in courtesy of Steven Pienaar's wonderfully controlled strike, with the South African making his return from a loan stint at Tottenham.
The hosts then pinned Chelsea back with some brilliantly incisive attacking and got a deserved second goal through Denis Stracqualursi to follow up their recent win over Manchester City with another impressive victory.
Arsenal's Thierry Henry signed off from the Premier League in fairytale fashion with a late winner in a 2-1 win over Sunderland.
Substitute Henry - playing in what could be his last ever Premier League game as he prepares to return to Major League Soccer with the New York Red Bulls - scored from close range to complete an impressive Arsenal comeback.
Arsenal had seemed to be heading for defeat when James McClean put Sunderland ahead in fortunate circumstances, but substitute Aaron Ramsey equalised before Henry struck a dramatic winner.
A sublime first-half display proved enough for Blackburn as they secured an important 3-2 win against QPR at Ewood Park.
Strikes from Yakubu and Steven N'Zonzi gave the hosts the early ascendancy before a Nedum Onuoha own-goal made it 3-0 at half-time.
Substitute Jamie Mackie netted a second-half brace to set up a nervy finale but Steve Kean's men held on to their lead to draw level on points with QPR and Wolves in the Premier League table.
Wigan secured just their fourth win of the season with a battling 2-1 victory over Bolton to close the gap at the bottom of the table.
Gary Caldwell gave Wigan the lead in the 43rd minute at Reebok Stadium but the hosts equalised through a wonder strike from Mark Davies just after the hour mark.
A James McArthur tap-in with 14 minutes to go won the game for the visitors and secured bragging rights over their local rivals.
Norwich City held on for a vital 3-2 away win over Swansea City courtesy of a Grant Holt brace.
The first half was initially dominated by the Liberty Stadium visitors, who enjoyed most of the possession but could not create any clear chances.
However, it was Swansea that took the lead in