Rafa Benitez's reign at Chelsea began with the dullest of goalless draws against English Premier League champions Manchester City, as Tottenham and Southampton posted impressive victories.
Brendan Rodgers' return to Swansea did not go quite according to plan, as Liverpool and the home side lacked the cutting edge to create any real opportunities in another drab draw.
Newcastle's poor run continued, as they crashed to their third straight defeat, going down to the Saints 2-0, while Spurs won 3-1 at White Hart Lane against West Ham.
At Stamford Bridge, all eyes were on the new manager Benitez, who was given a frosty reception by the fans, to say the very least. The entire 90 minutes saw the Chelsea faithful, in no uncertain terms, showing their full support for Roberto Di Matteo, and making their feelings clear on the Italian's replacement - in fact the chanting at the ground was more interesting than the performances on the field of play.
Neither side looked like they could open the scoring in a 90 minutes, that both teams would want to forget. Fernando Torres - brought back to the starting lineup, was again disappointing, as the Spanish striker, despite some decent forward runs, looked lost and devoid of ideas yet again.
The draw means, Manchester United, who beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 Saturday, remain top of the table on 30 points, with City a point behind them on 29. Chelsea are fourth on 25 points, with West Brom retaining third place, a point ahead of the Blues.
At the Liberty Stadium, fans witnessed yet another frustrating game, as both sides, despite playing some pretty stuff in the middle of the park, failed to carve out enough openings to trouble either goalkeepers.
Liverpool had the better chances in the game - first Jose Enrique put the ball in the back of the net off Luis Suarez's pass, only for it to be ruled out correctly for offside. Raheem Sterling then came close, but saw his rasping shot from 16 yards hit the crossbar.
At the other end, Pablo Hernandez had a couple of decent efforts, but neither side did enough to warrant all three points.
Spurs joined rivals Arsenal on 20 points, thanks to a brace from Jermain Defoe and another goal from Gareth Bale. Andy Carroll scored the consolation goal - his first for West Ham - late on to make it 3-1.
Southampton continued their resurgence with a commendable 2-0 win over Newcastle, following strikes from Adam Lallana and Gaston Ramirez.
