England striker Peter Crouch's second-half equaliser denied West Brom their first win in nine games and kept Tony Mowbray's side rooted to the bottom of the Premier League as they drew 1-1 with Portsmouth.
Latest In The Relegation Dog-Fight!
England striker Peter Crouch's second-half equaliser denied West Brom their first win in nine games and kept Tony Mowbray's side rooted to the bottom of the Premier League as they drew 1-1 with Portsmouth.
Crouch smashed home his ninth goal of the campaign to earn a point for Pompey on the day owner Alexandre Gaydamak confirmed the south coast club was up for sale.
Jonathan Greening had given the Baggies a deserved half-time lead as Pompey looked to be suffering a hangover from their midweek UEFA Cup defeat in Wolfsburg.
The Baggies skipper was an influential figure in the hole behind lone frontman Ishmael Miller, who was stretchered off with medial ligament damage.
But, as against Wigan last weekend, Albion failed to make their superiority count and an improved showing after the break from the visitors earned them a deserved point.
Nemanja Vidic tapped home a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Manchester United edged out managerless Sunderland 1-0 to keep pace with their 'Big Four' rivals at the top of the table.
United looked as though they would be forced to settle for a draw as the Black Cats bravely battled through a goalless 90 minutes three days after Roy Keane's sudden exit.
But they reckoned without Vidic, who was on hand to finish off after Michael Carrick's long-range shot had been deflected onto a post by Carlos Edwards.
Liverpool had earlier maintained their one-point lead at the top of the table with a 3-1 victory over struggling Blackburn at Ewood Park.
Rovers battled well in the first half and the Reds needed Jose Reina's fingertip save from Morten Gamst Pedersen to preserve parity.
The visitors upped the ante in the second half and Paul Robinson denied Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun with an impressive double stop, but it was a soft shot that beat him as Xabi Alonso's mishit effort bobbled into the bottom corner (69).
Benayoun then doubled the lead 10 minutes later when he jinked past Stephen Warnock and found the far corner from a tight angle.
Roque Santa Cruz's 86th-minute header gave Rovers hope but Gerrard made sure in injury-time with the easiest of finishes after Robinson charged out of his goal.
Chelsea continue to breathe down Liverpool's necks after breaking the top-flight record for consecutive away wins with an 11th successive triumph on the road at Bolton.
Luiz Felipe Scolari's side were ahead after only nine minutes when former Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka headed in Jose Bosingwa's cross for his 99th Premier League goal and their second was a moment of sheer class.
Michael Ballack nodded the ball into the penalty area and Deco's superb overhead kick found the bottom corner (21).
Bolton exerted more pressure in the second half with John Terry clearing Matt Taylor's header off the line but Wanderers could not breach the visitors' defence and it ended 2-0.
Arsenal climbed above Manchester United, for a couple of hours at least, with Emmanuel Adebayor's goal giving them a 1-0 win against Wigan at the Emirates.
Cesc Fabregas' ball in broke for the big striker and he made no mistake (16). On the stroke of half-time, the same player was denied by Chris Kirkland when the Latics 'keeper pushed Adebayor's shot onto the post.
The Gunners also hit the woodwork after the break when Denilson's shot struck the inside of the post but they needed Manuel Almunia's diving save from Mario Melchiot .
I think we all know how Stoke did on Saturday ... Stoke came back from 2-0 down to take a point against Toon at a shell-shocked St James' Park.
Michael Owen looked to have put the Magpies on the way to victory with first-half goals from crosses by Jonas Gutierrez (8) and Obafemi Martins (24).
Stoke were back in it on the hour mark when substitute Ricardo Fuller set up Mamady Sidibe and they secured an unlikely point when a header by ex-Sunderland defender Danny Higginbotham fell to former Newcastle defender Abdoulaye Faye in front of goal (90).
Hull secured their first victory in seven games thanks to two late goals against Middlesbrough at the KC Stadium
After Geovanni missed a first-half sitter for the hosts, Boro went ahead 11 minutes from time when Jeremie Aliadiere set up Tuncay Sanli, who scored with a neat backheel.
But the hosts were level within three minutes when Bernard Mendy's shot came off the post onto the back of Boro 'keeper Ross Turnbull and into the net.
And amazingly there was a third goal in six minutes as David Wheater pulled back Geovanni in the box, earning a red card for his troubles, and Marlon King tucked away the spot-kick (85).
In the early kick-off, Jimmy Bullard scored his first league goal of the season to earn Fulham a point from a 1-1 draw with Manchester City that extended their unbeaten run to five matches.
With England manager Fabio Capello watching from the stands, Bullard smashed home in the 27th minute to cancel out Benjani Mwaruwari's sixth-minute header.
