Leaders Chelsea maintained their 11-point lead with a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace, while West Brom thumped 10-man Charlton by the same score.

Second-placed Manchester United and Arsenal, in third, also won while down at the bottom, Albion's survival hopes were boosted as Robert Earnshaw hit a hat-trick in an amazing 4-1 win at The Valley.

At Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard struck from long distance to give his side the lead after 29 minutes after initial good work from Joe Cole.

But Lampard went from hero to villain when he fluffed a clearance from Wayne Routledge's cross, allowing Aki Riihilahti to equalise.

Cole restored the lead nine minutes into the second half, drilling a fine effort across goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly from the right channel. Substitute Mateja Kezman added the third 12 minutes from time after his speculative shot was spilled into the net by Kiraly. Kezman then tapped in for the fourth late on.

United remained in second place after a dazzling winner from Cristiano Ronaldo in a 1-0 victory over Fulham.

Paul Scholes had already wasted a chance by heading wide early on, but Ronaldo scored a magnificent goal on 21 minutes. The Portugal winger cut inside from the left flank and unleashed an unstoppable drive that found the top corner, giving keeper Edwin van der Sar no chance.

Wayne Rooney had chances to add to the lead but it remained 1-0, although the visitors had a few chances on the counter-attack.

Arsenal also won 1-0, at Blackburn in the lunchtime kick-off.

In a tight match, Robin van Persie scored the only goal of the game two minutes before the interval, turning on to Ashley Cole's through-ball and rounding goalkeeper Brad Friedel before tapping in.

West Brom bounced back from their 1-0 midweek defeat by Chelsea as they trounced The Addicks at The Valley.

Geoff Horsfield scored the opener with a thumping header after nine minutes but Jonatan Johansson restored parity after muscling past Baggies keeper Russell Hoult.

Talal El Karkouri was sent off for a rash tackle on Zoltan Gera after 29 minutes - and the visitors eventually took advantage when they brought on Earnshaw.

The Wales striker scored his first after 73 minutes when Horsfield found him with a header. Earnshaw then broke the offside trap after Gera sent him through for the third, and completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot.

Stuart Pearce's first game as Manchester City caretaker boss ended in a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

His side were a goal down after 16 minutes, with Jermain Defoe marking his return to the starting line-up by heading in. City failed to deal with Andy Reid's cross from the left and Simon Davies then set up Defoe.

Claudio Reyna levelled just before the break when he latched on to Robbie Fowler's delightful chip and thrashed in past Paul Robinson.

Substitute Robbie Keane tapped in the winner after Davies' shot was deflected into his path by Richard Dunne.

Newcastle's run of eight successive wins came to end after they were held 1-1 by Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Laurent Robert headed against the crossbar late in the half but Kieron Dyer then opened the scoring after a quick free-kick from Lee Bowyer.

Pompey midfielder Steve Stone tapped in on the stroke of half-time after a great run from Lomana LuaLua - and it remained 1-1.

A brilliant strike from Stelios Giannakopoulos gave Bolton a 1-0 win over Norwich at The Reebok and moved them above Liverpool into fifth.

The Greek midfielder curled a stunning shot past Robert Green into the top corner of the net from the edge of the area three minutes before the break.

And Vincent Candela nearly doubled the lead two minutes later with an identical effort which rattled Green's crossbar.

Bolton started well with Kevin Nolan sending a volley narrowly wide and Fernando Hierro dragging his effort marginally off target after Gary Speed had laid the ball back.

But Damien Francis twice nearly gave Norwich the lead, firing just wide from the edge of the area before seeing another effort deflected over the bar by Tal Ben Haim.

The second half was devoid of any decent chances until 12 minutes from time when Hierro's piledriver was deflected over. And from the resulting corner, Green pulled off a stunning save to keep out the Spaniard's volley.

Dean Ashton fired over for Norwich as time ran out but the Canaries never looked like getting back into the game and are now four points adrift at the foot of the table.