Chelsea ground out a 1-0 victory at Southampton while champions Manchester United, who had briefly gone top, beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Old Trafford in the early kickoff.

The victories kept Arsenal top of the leading trio with 33 points, Chelsea on 32 and United just one point further back on 31 as they all limbered up for Champions League duty next week.

Skipper Alan Shearer scored twice as Newcastle United trounced Manchester City 3-0, Liverpool drew 0-0 at Middlesbrough and caretaker boss Eddie Gray made a losing start with bottom club Leeds United slumping to a 2-0 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger celebrated victory in his 400th match in charge despite missing six first-team regulars, including skipper Patrick Vieira, through suspension, jet lag and injury.

Sweden midfielder Freddie Ljungberg gave them a fourth- minute lead but the points were assured only when Dutch forward Dennis Bergkamp and France winger Robert Pires added two more goals in the last 10 minutes.

France striker Thierry Henry underlined his value to the Arsenal cause by setting up all three goals for his team mates.

"We needed a lot of togetherness, a lot of spirit to get through the game," Wenger told Sky Sports.

ARSENAL CONCENTRATION

"They (City) closed us down and gave absolutely everything. We found an opening in the last 10 minutes but overall it was a difficult victory... we needed great concentration."

Chelsea had a rare goal from Dutch defender Mario Melchiot to thank for their victory at St Mary's.

Southampton had their chances to earn a point but were clearly missing the influence of their injured main striker, James Beattie.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, who scored a hat-trick in the Netherlands' 6-0 midweek demolition of Scotland in a Euro 2004 playoff, gave Manchester United a 24th-minute lead in their victory over Rovers.

Brazilian midfielder Kleberson notched his first goal for the club 14 minutes later.

United's lead, built on two assists by South African midfielder Quinton Fortune, was narrowed by Australian Brett Emerton in a swift 62nd-minute counter-attack as Rovers showed a marked improvement in the second half.

The mixed performance did not impress United manager Alex Ferguson, who said: "For an hour we were absolutely superb and then we got slack, careless and started trying to put too much icing on the cake.

"We missed some good chances to make it 3-0, we lost a goal and after that we're scrambling home. It's disappointing."

Rovers boss Graeme Souness said: "In the first half we didn't have enough people who believed we could come here and get a result and in the second half we did ... but the damage had been done."