United top as nine-man Chelsea lose at Wigan

Chelsea coach Carlo AncelottiLondon  - Chelsea's 100 per-cent record came to an end on Saturday as they suffered a 3-1 defeat at Wigan Athletic and had goalkeeper Petr Cech sent off.

Champions Manchester United went top on goal difference as they won at Stoke City, Fernando Torres hit a hat-trick as Liverpool thrashed Hull City and Arsenal beat Fulham.

"We did not play a good game - it was a bad performance. I do not know why we did not play well," said Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti.

"But these things can happen after a lot of victories. We have to accept this loss and fix things for our next match.

"Wigan played better than us. They were well-organised and played good football. I was surprised. This was the right result."

Chelsea fell behind after 16 minutes as Titus Bramble headed in Charles N'Zogbia's cross after a quickly taken corner.

A howler from goalkeeper Chris Kirkland gifted Didier Drogba an equalizer two minutes into the second half but Chelsea goalkeeper Cech was soon sent off for a foul on Hugo Rodallega, and the Colombian forward converted the resulting penalty to restore Wigan's lead after 53 minutes.

As Ashley Cole went off injured, Chelsea were left to play out the final minutes with nine men, and they conceded again in injury time, Maynor Figueroa crossing for Paul Scharner to score.

Manchester United were held for over an hour at Stoke City, but Dimitar Berbatov broke the deadlock from substitute Ryan Giggs's cross on 62 minutes.

John O'Shea made it 2-0, heading in a Giggs free-kick with 13 minutes remaining.

"Ryan is important," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. "He made the goals.

"I felt his intelligence would give them a bit of bother on that side of the pitch."

Liverpool went third, three points behind the leaders, as they hammered Hull 6-1.

Torres got his first after 12 minutes accepting Albert Riera's pass and beating Ibrahima Sonko before finishing.

Geovanni equalized three minutes later, but Torres restored Liverpool's lead with a superb individual effort after 28 minutes, and completed his hat-trick with his eight goal of the season early in the second half.

Steven Gerrard crashed in a spectacular fourth just after the hour, and Ryan Babel and Riera wrapped the game up in the final minutes.

"In the last three games he was really good, he is improving his mentality, work-rate and movement and he is now showing his ability but I think he can do it better," said Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said of Torres.

Arsenal were grateful to reserve goalkeeper Vito Mannone for a number of fine saves as they won 1-0 at Fulham.

Robin van Persie got the only goal just after half-time, controlling Cesc Fabregas's chipped pass and poking a finish just inside Mark Schwarzer's right-hand post.

Robbie Keane scored four as Tottenham Hotspur beat Burnley 5-0, Jermaine Jenas getting the other.

Gabriel Agbolahor gave Aston Villa a third-minute lead at Blackburn Rovers, but Christopher Samba levelled with a 24th-minute volley.

Blackburn's Vince Grella was sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second half, but they claimed a 2-1 win with an 88th-minute David Dunn penalty.

A brilliant Chung-Yong Lee goal with five minutes to go gave Bolton Wanderers a 2-1 victory at Birmingham City.

Tamir Cohen had put Bolton ahead after 10 minutes, before Kevin Phillips equalized.

In the lunchtime kick-off, Louis Saha's goal gave Everton a 1-0 win over Portsmouth, who have lost their first seven games of the season.  dpa