Chelsea and Southampton both scored goals in the first 15 minutes to put their teams on top 1-0 at the halftime break of the early Sunday matches.
The trailing teams Norwich City and Swansea both slowly built more and more of an attack as the halves went on, but have not yet found the chance to bring them level.
The two matches have been eerily similar, with the leading sides dominating early but fading a bit heading into the break.
For Chelsea, Oscar scored his second Premier League goal and fourth of the season in all competitions, hitting home after receiving a wonderful ball from striker Demba Ba.
The goal came in the third minute, and temporarily knocked Norwich back, but they worked slowly as the first half went on and managed to nearly level the shot tally before the break.
Southampton’s Adam Lallana smashed home a top-corner strike in the 13th minute to give the home side the lead at St. Marys. It seemed for a moment the goal had doomed Swansea and given the Saints an extra spring in their step, but the visitors have since found their footing.
Nathan Dyer nearly evened things up in the 36th minute, banging a curling effort off the inside of the top corner, and the ball ricocheted out across the face of the goal and away from danger. Michu came close as well in stoppage time of the first half, but he could do no more than head Dyer’s cross directly at Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc.