In contrast Chelsea seized their chance, taking pole position from Arsenal - who play Charlton on Sunday - with a tight 1-0 win against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

Fulham's unexpected win, secured by goals from Lee Clarke, Steed Malbranque and Japan's Junichi Inamoto, with Diego Forlan replying for the reigning champions, is the Londoners' first win against Manchester United - home or away - in 39 years.

United manager Alex Ferguson, sitting in the Old Trafford stands for the first of a two-game touchline ban, fielded a string of changes from the side that beat Rangers in the Champions League during the week.

But his new-look side struggled throughout as Fulham ran rampant, bringing United their first home loss since September 2002.

"It was a bad one, but you get them," a resigned Ferguson said, calling the performance "lifeless" and "lethargic", but also paying tribute to Chris Coleman's side.

"I think they deserved the win all right, there's no question about that," said the United boss, whose side slipped to third.

Dutchman Jimmy Lloyd Hasselbaink won the points for Claudio Ranieri's band of multinational millionaires on 34 minutes, almost stumbling into the ball after David Seaman parried Adrian Mutu's drive.

But the victory was a tricky one against a lively City side, who tested Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini a string of times late on.

"It's not important to be top now, but it's important to continue the way we're going," said Ranieri.

The most entertaining game of the day came at the opposite end of the Premiership table as Wolverhampton Wanderers somehow battled back from a 3-0 half-time deficit at home to tail-enders Leicester to win 4-3.

Leicester shot to a seemingly unbeatable lead in the first half after 36-year-old Les Ferdinand headed in a pair inside three minutes from corners and Riccardo Scimeca scored on 35 minutes.

But somehow Wolves battled back, getting three goals in 16 minutes, two from Colin Cameron and one from Alex Rae, before Henri Camara pocketed the points with just four minutes to go.

"That's probably the comeback of all comebacks at this club," said Wolves coach Dave Jones.

"I've never been involved in anything like that in senior football. We did not turn up at all for the first half, we didn't even deserve to be on the same park as Leicester and I didn't recognise my players out there."

Earlier, Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier's risky strategy of rushing Michael Owen back from injury paid off handsomely as the England striker launched the Reds to a 3-1 victory against Leeds, ending a miserable run of three defeats.

After 35 minutes Owen - who had barely trained for three weeks due to a shin injury and was not expected to play, let alone start - spun in the box and lifted a fine shot into the top corner.

"Michael is a vital player for us, we knew that," said Houllier dismissing the idea that using the striker had been a risk.

"It was not a gamble in terms of his fitness, or his health."

Newcastle continued their strong revival, brushing aside Portsmouth 3-0 at home with goals from Gary Speed, Alan Shearer - his 10th this season in the league - and Shola Ameobi.

However Blackburn's recent miserable run continued, as James Beattie and Leandre Griffit condemned Graeme Souness's men to a 2-0 defeat against Southampton at St Mary's.

Souness' afternoon was made even worse after former England striker Andy Cole was dismissed for punching Michael Svensson.

Current England international wonder boy Wayne Rooney was unable to celebrate his 18th birthday of Friday with a goal, as his Everton side squeezed out a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa.

In the other early game, Birmingham cemented their impressive fourth spot in the league by edging a 1-0 victory away at Bolton.

The goal was somewhat farcical. Christophe Dugarry charged down the right, but his scuffed cross bobbled slowly towards a crowd of Bolton defenders.

However Simon Charlton slipped horribly on the rain-soaked grass and Mikael Forssell, on loan from Chelsea, reacted quickest to poke the ball past fellow Finn Jussi Jaaskelainen.