Manchester United did what they always do, which is pick up a win, with Wayne Rooney helping himself to a brace, as Arsenal came back from two goals down to earn themselves a point against Liverpool.
Goals from Juan Mata and Frank Lampard looked like sending Chelsea to a comfortable win over Reading, but super sub Adam Le Fondre struck twice in the final minutes to salvage an incredible point for the relegation-threatened side.
At the Emirates, it was the same old Arsenal failing of pressing the self-destruct button, this time several times leading to Luis Suarez being gifted a goal in the fifth minute.
First Bacary Sagna slipped while trying to cut out a ball on the inside right, with Thomas Vermaelen then completely making a hash of a clearance, allowing Daniel Sturridge to take a shot, which was kept out.
Aaron Ramsey joined the comedy of errors as the Welsh midfielder failed to clear the ball away with the ball eventually falling to Suarez, whose sidefoot took a deflection off Per Mertesacker and into the back of the net past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the sixth minute to give Liverpool a perfect start.
Arsenal, like they did against West Ham, nearly replied immediately, with Jack Wilshere playing a brilliant through ball to Theo Walcott, whose shot was well saved by Pepe Reina.
Arsenal were looking jittery at the back, and Suarez nearly carved them open yet again, playing a delightful ball with the outside of his foot to Sturridge, whose first-time shot went wide of the post.
Podolski tore down the left and played a nice ball into Giroud, but the French striker's shot missed the target.
Walcott then forced another brilliant save from Reina, seeing his curling strike saved by the fingertips of the Spanish goalkeeper.
Liverpool came close off a corner, at the other end, but Daniel Agger's header was cleared off the line by Lukas Podolski with the goalkeeper out of position.
Arsenal were dealt another blow towards the end of the first half, with Kieran Gibbs forced off with a hamstring injury for Andre Santos.
The Gunners looked capable of breaking the Liverpool defense open, but the goal never came as the Reds took a 1-0 lead to halftime.
Arsenal's hopes of making a comeback into the game were seriously dashed just on the hour as Jordan Henderson's persistence and some more shambolic defending from the home side made it 2-0.
The Gunners reduced the deficit within five minutes, however, with Giroud getting away from his marker to head home off a Wilshere freekick.
Two minutes is all it took for Arsenal to get on level terms courtesy a brilliantly worked move. Walcott initially won a header on the right with Sagna then playing the ball across to Cazorla, who in turn played in Giroud inside the box. The Frenchman added an assist to his goal, by laying off perfectly for the waiting Walcott to drill the ball home to the far corner.
Walcott then came close to his second, with the forward's left-footed strike from 20 yards going just beyond Reina's right-hand post.
Arsenal were utterly dominant now with Mertesacker coming close with a header, before Giroud forced a save off Reina from 20 yards.
Giroud then missed a brilliant chance, unable to react to a deflection off a Podolski cross from six yards out with a gaping goal.
At Old Trafford, two early goals spiced up the contest nicely, with Southampton opening the scoring in the third minute. Michael Carrick made an uncharacteristically lazy backpass to David De Gea, who was beaten to the ball by Jay Rodrigues, before slotting the ball into an empty net.
Five minutes later United were level, with Rooney coolly slotting the ball into the bottom corner off a through ball from Shinji Kagawa.
Rooney completed his grace just before the half hour, tapping in from close range after Patrice Evra headed the ball across off a freekick from Robin Van Persie.
There were no more goals in the second half as United extended their lead at the top to seven points from Manchester City.
At the Madejski Stadium, by far Chelsea's best player this year Juan Mata netted the vital goal on the stroke of halftime. The Spanish playmaker played a ball through to his compatriot Fernando Torres, who dinked the ball back to Mata to fire home.
Frank Lampard inched ever closer to the all-time record of Bobby Tambling, rising high to head home from a corner in the 66th minute to seemingly put the game to bed.
Adam Le Fondre got a goal back with three minutes remaining to give Chelsea the jitters, before the forward popped up right at the end to put further pressure on Rafa Benitez.
Results: Everton 2-1 West Brom; Norwich 1-1 Totttenham; Manchester United 2-1 Southampton; Reading 2-2 Chelsea; Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool; Fulham 3-1 West Ham.
