Man City 1 - 1 Arsenal
Tottenham 2 - 1 QPR
Newcastle 1 - 0 Norwich
Liverpool 1 - 2 Man Utd
Premier League
1 Chelsea 13
2 Man Utd 12
3 Everton 10
4 West Brom 10
5 Arsenal 9
6 Fulham 9
7 Man City 9
8 Tottenham 8
9 West Ham 8
10 Newcastle 8
On a day when strike partner Papiss Cisse's fortune took a turn for the worse when he squandered a penalty chance, Ba produced a finish worthy of Hatem Ben Arfa's slide-rule pass to claim just a second Barclays Premier League victory of the season for the Magpies.
Ben Arfa found himself on the wrong end of assistant manager John Carver's tongue after allowing Cisse to take the spot-kick in first-half injury-time, and it took a fine 47th-minute save by Steve Harper to deny Andrew Surman an equaliser and former Newcastle boss Chris Hughton a point on his return.
The home side were once again not at their fluent best in front of a frustrated crowd of 49,402 despite making seven changes, and Cheick Tiote's return as a late substitute represented a welcome boost.
Robin van Persie's late penalty secured Manchester United's first Anfield win since December 2007 as they beat 10-man Liverpool 2-1 on an emotional afternoon on Merseyside.
The hosts played 51 minutes with 10 men after Jonjo Shelvey's sending-off but still managed to take the lead through Steven Gerrard's volley.
However, Rafael equalised soon after and Van Persie, one of three United players to miss from the spot already this term, scored his fourth goal in as many games against the Reds nine minutes from time.
In the end it was something of a relief the talking points were all generated on the pitch as Liverpool marked their first home match since the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report which exonerated fans in relation to the 1989 disaster.
Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra shook hands in a show of unity before the game - the Liverpool forward had refused to shake the United defender's hand in the league meeting between the sides at Old Trafford in February, having previously been found guilty of racially abusing Evra in the corresponding fixture at Anfield last season.
Laurent Koscielny earned Arsenal a deserved point at the Etihad Stadium with a late equaliser as Manchester City's stuttering start to the season continued with a 1-1 draw.
The Gunners had much the better of the first half but could not make their dominance count and Joleon Lescott headed the hosts in front from a 40th-minute corner.
That looked like being the way it would stay as Arsenal struggled to find a way to goal, but Koscielny proved the unlikely hero with an unstoppable shot eight minutes from time.
Both sides wore black armbands to remember Greater Manchester Police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, who were killed on Tuesday, and all sides of the ground stood for a period of applause before kick-off.
Jermain Defoe scored his sixth goal of the season as Tottenham came from behind to beat QPR 2-1 and register their first home win under Andre Villas-Boas.
A dreadful first-half performance meant Villas-Boas left the pitch at half-time to a chorus of loud boos, but his team turned things around after the break, with Defoe's strike and an own-goal from Alejandro Faurlin handing the Portuguese his first win at White Hart Lane at the fourth attempt.
Bobby Zamora, who scored one goal in 18 appearances at Spurs, put QPR ahead in the first half after Faurlin's brilliant slide-rule pass, and had it not been for a couple of brilliant reaction saves from Brad Friedel, Tottenham could have gone in 3-0 down at half-time.