Manchester City gave their title rivals renewed hope yesterday by slumping to a second English Premier League defeat of the season, conceding a last-gasp goal to lose 1-0 to Sunderland and cap a weekend of surprise results.
Manchester United's shock 3-2 defeat by bottom team Blackburn on Saturday handed City the chance to pull clear at the top, but the cross-town rivals remain locked together on points at the halfway stage of the season after Ji Dong-Won's dramatic winner at the Stadium of Light.
Four seconds of the three minutes of stoppage time were remaining when the South Korea striker tapped into an empty net after rounding City goalkeeper Joe Hart.
The impact of City's defeat will also be felt in London, with third-place Tottenham six points behind with a game in hand despite their 1-1 draw at Swansea on Saturday.
Contention still on
Arsenal are three points further back in fourth while even Chelsea, who were upset 3-1 at home to Aston Villa on Saturday, and Liverpool, might still feel in contention 11 points off the lead.
In yesterday's other game, Everton climbed into the top half of the table by beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0, thanks to substitute Victor Anichebe's 87th-minute winner.
Ji's goal, which came with a suspicion of offside, came even later to continue City's recent wobbles in the league.
After looking irrepressible early in the season in their hunt for a first title since 1968, Roberto Mancini's side have won only two of their last five matches.
Even the goals, which flowed in record style for the first four months of the campaign, have dried up, with the Sunderland defeat coming hot on the heels of a 0-0 draw at West Brom on Monday.
"We deserved to win this game," Mancini said. "It's incredible ... . I don't know how many chances we had."
"We knew we were going to have to withstand ferocious pressure from Manchester City. We did it and we did it remarkably well," said Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill, whose team climbed three places to 13th.
The O'Neill effect has lifted the gloom at Sunderland, with the team winning three of their five matches since the Northern Irishman replaced Steve Bruce asmanager at the start of December.
"We've got the belief going into games that we're going to win now," Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole said.
City will look to bounce back when they host Liverpool tomorrow, when Mancini will no doubt recall Sergio Aguero and David Silva to the starting line-up after the attacking pair were used as second-half substitutes against Sunderland.
City also play Tottenham in the league this month and have a mouth-watering FA Cup third-round match at home to United to come on Sunday.
FIRST GOAL
Anichebe came off the bench to grab his first goal since March 2010, pouncing on a poor defensive header by West Brom midfielder Paul Scharner to score from close range.
It was the Nigeria striker's first appearance since injuring himself on international duty at the start of September.
"He's not even had a reserve game," Everton Manager David Moyes said. "He's a big-time player because of what he can do and what he brings to us."
The win lifted Everton three places to ninth, extending the team's unbeaten streak to four matches.
West Brom remain the league's lowest scorers at home with just seven goals in 10 matches at the Hawthorns.
ARSENAL 1 QUEENS PARK RANGERS 0
GOAL:- ARSENAL: VAN PERSIE 60th.
Robin van Persie scored his 35th Barclays Premier League goal in 2011 as Arsenal overcame Queens Park Rangers to move into fourth place. Van Persie missed four first-half chances while Aaron Ramsey had an opportunity cleared off the line by Joey Barton. But the Dutchman passed Thierry Henry's club, scoring record for a year, though was one short of Alan Shearer's all-time record, set in 1995.
BOLTON WANDERERS 1 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1
GOALS:- BOLTON: RICKETTS 22nd. WOLVES: FLETCHER 49th.
Bolton slipped to the bottom of the Barclays Premier League on the last day of 2011, despite picking up a first home draw of the season against Wolves. In an encouraging display, Sam Ricketts scored a superb curling effort on his return to the side after 10 months out. Having already hit the bar, Wolves equalised after the break when Steven Fletcher headed in a Matt Jarvis cross. A Fabrice Muamba shot and a Gretar Steinsson header were both saved by Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey.
CHELSEA 1 ASTON VILLA 3
GOALS:- CHELSEA: DROGBA PEN 23rd. VILLA: IRELAND 28th; PETROV 83rd; BENT 86th.
Aston Villa left Chelsea's Barclays Premier League title challenge in tatters and piled the pressure on beleaguered Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas with a clinical display and thoroughly deserved win at Stamford Bridge. Villa scored twice in the final 10 minutes to ensure the hosts' winless run stretched to four games. Stephen Ireland was the architect, drawing Villa level from close range after Didier Drogba's penalty opener and then teeing up a simple third for substitute Darren Bent after Stiliyan Petrov had put the visitors ahead.
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 BLACKBURN ROVERS 3
GOALS:- UNITED: BERBATOV 52nd, 62nd. BLACKBURN: YAKUBU PEN 16th, 51st; HANLEY 80th.
Sir Alex Ferguson suffered the ignominy of watching his Manchester United side lose to basement club Blackburn on his 70th birthday. Yakubu gave Rovers the lead from the spot after Dimitar Berbatov had pulled down defender Chris Samba. The Nigerian made it 2-0 when he made the most of slack defending to thrash in, before Berbatov brought United back into the match with a header and shot. But Grant Hanley spoilt the day for Ferguson when he nodded in the winner.
NORWICH CITY 1 FULHAM 1
GOALS:- NORWICH: JACKSON 90+4. FULHAM: SA 7th.
Norwich's second-half pressure finally told as Simeon Jackson's injury-time header denied Fulham only their second away win of the season. Orlando Sa wrapped a curling effort around John Ruddy after seven minutes and would have had a second but for Kyle Naughton's goal-line clearance. Clint Dempsey hit the woodwork with a header for Fulham, but the hosts pressed forward after the break. Naughton rattled the bar before Jackson nodded in Elliott Bennett's cross.
STOKE CITY 2 WIGAN ATHLETIC 2
GOALS:- STOKE: WALTERS PEN 77th; JEROME 84th. WIGAN: MOSES 45th; WATSON PEN 87th.
Ben Watson scored with his first touch, from the penalty spot, after coming on as a substitute to snatch a dramatic, late equaliser for 10-man Wigan. Hugo Rodallega had crossed for Victor Moses to tuck in the opener for Wigan. Stoke made it 1-1 when Gary Caldwell was sent off for handball, leading to a penalty scored by Jon Walters.Then came a thrilling finish as Cameron Jerome fired Stoke ahead before Watson rescued a draw after Ryan Shotton pulled Rodallega's shirt.
SWANSEA CITY 1 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1
GOALS:- SWANSEA: SINCLAIR 84th. TOTTENHAM: VAN DER VAART 44th.
Tottenham Hotspur wasted a chance to close the gap on the Barclays Premier League's top two as Scott Sinclair's late equaliser rescued Swansea City a point. Rafael van der Vaart's opener looked to have dragged third-place Spurs to within four points of the leaders, following Manchester United's shock defeat at home to Blackburn.Van der Vaart converted Benoit Assou-Ekotto's deflected left-wing cross.
English Premier League table after yesterday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
| Teams | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
| Man City | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 53 | 16 | 45 |
| Man Utd | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 49 | 17 | 45 |
| Tottenham | 18 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 35 | 20 | 39 |
| Arsenal | 19 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 35 | 26 | 36 |
| Chelsea | 19 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 24 | 34 |
| Liverpool | 19 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 24 | 15 | 34 |
| Newcastle | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 26 | 25 | 30 |
| Stoke | 19 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 30 | 26 |
| Everton | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 19 | 20 | 24 |
| Aston Villa | 19 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 24 | 23 |
| Norwich | 19 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 28 | 34 | 22 |
| West Brom | 19 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 27 | 22 |
| Sunderland | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 22 | 21 |
| Fulham | 19 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 20 | 25 | 20 |
| Swansea | 19 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 23 | 20 |
| Wolves | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 34 | 17 |
| QPR | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 33 | 17 |
| Wigan | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 17 | 37 | 15 |
| Blackburn | 19 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 28 | 41 | 14 |
| Bolton | 19 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 23 | 42 | 13 |
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