Robin van Persie rescued a point for Manchester United to keep Chelsea from moving eight points clear of defending champion Manchester City in the Premier League.

Chelsea looked to have sealed the win thanks to veteran striker Didier Drogba’s header, but van Perise leveled in the fourth minute of injury time to secure a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

In Italy, league leader Juventus beat Palermo and in France Marseille missed the chance to notch a club record ninth straight win when it lost at Lyon, which improved to third.

Premier League leader Chelsea dropped points for only the second time this season at Manchester United in a draw that also celebrated in the blue half of the city.

Chelsea was on the verge of moving eight points clear of defending champion Manchester City when Netherlands striker Robin van Persie slammed home a loose ball in the fourth minute of injury time.

Didier Drogba put Chelsea ahead in the 53rd minute with a glancing header from a corner, for the 36-year-old striker’s first league goal since joining the club for a second spell.

Surprisingly, Southampton is Chelsea’s nearest challenger after nine games, four points behind Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten side. City is two points further adrift in third.

Tottenham’s disappointing start to the season continued with a 2-1 loss at home to Newcastle, which further eased the pressure on visiting manager Alan Pardew.

Samuel Eto’o scored twice in Everton’s 3-1 win at Burnley.

Unbeaten Juvenuts beat Palermo 2-0 to move three points clear of Roma at the top of Serie A, thanks to forward Fernando Llorente’s first goal of the season and another from midfielder Arturo Vidal.

Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat trick as Napoli came from behind to defeat Hellas Verona 6-2, while Inter Milan won 1-0 at 10-man Cesena.

AC Milan drew 1-1 at home to Fiorentina in the evening match.

Juventus dominated but failed to create any real opportunities until shortly after the half hour when Carlos Tevez surged forward on a counterattack to set up Vidal.

Llorente then headed in Andrea Pirlo’s corner in the 64th minute.

Sevilla scored twice in the final minutes to stun visiting Villarreal 2-1 and move level on points with Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.

Villarreal substitute Luciano Vietto appeared to have grabbed the winner at Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium with a goal in the 79th minute.

But Denis Suarez swept in the equalizer in the 88th, and striker Carlos Bacca converted a penalty kick two minutes into injury time.

Sevilla’s record of seven wins, one draw and one loss is the best ever through the first nine rounds for the Andalusian club.

Madrid was left in third place one point behind, followed by Valencia and Atletico Madrid another point back.

Atletico remained level on points with Valencia after it earned a testy 1-0 victory at 10-man Getafe thanks to Mario Mandzukic’s goal.

Borussia Moenchengladbach held Bayern Munich to an exciting 0-0 draw on Sunday as the Bundesliga’s top two teams remained unbeaten. (AP)