PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal 1 - 1 Man City
C Palace 1 - 0 Chelsea
West Brom 3 - 3 Cardiff
Swansea 3 - 0 Norwich
Southampton 4 - 0 Newcastle
Stoke City 1 - 0 Hull City
Man Utd 4 - 1 A Villa
Southampton continued their pursuit of Man United with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Newcastle which saw them leapfrog the Magpies into eighth.
The Saints had to wait until stoppage time at the end of the first half to take the lead after being repeatedly thwarted by keeper Rob Elliot, standing in for the injured Tim Krul.
However, once Jay Rodriguez had opened the scoring there was no way back for Alan Pardew's men as fellow England World Cup hopefuls Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana helped themselves to a goal apiece before Rodriguez sealed victory at the death with his second.
Manchester City missed the chance to usurp Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premier League as Arsenal battled to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
Following Chelsea's shock 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace earlier on Saturday afternoon, Manuel Pellegrini's men, who still have matches in hand, would have gone ahead on goal difference with victory over the out-of-form Gunners.
Premier League
1 Chelsea 69
2 Liverpool 68
3 Man City 67
4 Arsenal 64
5 Everton 57
6 Tottenham 56
7 Man Utd 54
8 Southampton 48
9 Newcastle 46
10 Stoke City 40
11 West Ham 34
12 A Villa 34
13 Swansea 33
14 Hull City 33
15 Norwich 32
16 C Palace 31
17 West Brom 29
18 Cardiff 26
19 Sunderland 25
20 Fulham 24
However, despite taking an early lead through David Silva, it was Arsenal who showed the greater desire as they recovered to turn in a strong second-half display and level through Mathieu Flamini.
Liverpool host Tottenham on Sunday and now have the championship destiny in their own hands, with key clashes against City and Chelsea at Anfield still to come.
Earlier, John Terry's own goal blew the race for the title wide open as Crystal Palace snatched an unlikely three points against Chelsea at Selhurst Park.
The former England defender turned Joel Ward's 52nd-minute cross into his own net under pressure from Joe Ledley to hand the Eagles a precious win in their battle for survival.
It was no more than Palace deserved from a performance of real character and endeavour on a day when Jose Mourinho's men were far from at their best.
Victory lifted Tony Pulis' side one place to 16th, but crucially five points clear of the drop zone.
It proved to be a good day too for beleaguered Manchester United manager David Moyes as a Wayne Rooney double in a 4-1 victory over Aston Villa helped to lift some of the pressure from his shoulders.
On a day when a group of disgruntled fans chartered a plane to display the message "Wrong One - Moyes out", Rooney cancelled out Ashley Westwood's fine 11th-minute free-kick with a deft header and then fired United into the lead from the penalty spot after Juan Mata had been felled.
Mata's first goal for the club gave the home side breathing space and substitute Javier Hernandez wrapped up a 4-1 win at the death.
But perhaps the game of the day took place at the Hawthorns as West Brom and Cardiff fought out a six-goal thriller.
The Baggies looked to be cruising to victory when they went 2-0 up within nine minutes of the kick-off after Morgan Amalfitano floated an outrageous second-minute opener over goalkeeper David Marshall before Graham Dorrans extended their advantage.
However, the Bluebirds dragged themselves back into the game on the half-hour through Jordon Mutch's strike, and levelled 17 minutes from time when defender Steven Caulker powered home a header from Gary Medel's free-kick.
But there was still drama to come when Thievy Bifouma looked to have snatched victory for the home side three minutes into added time, only for Mats Daehli to deny them with virtually the last kick of the game.
South Wales neighbours Swansea enjoyed a much more comfortable afternoon as they eased to a 3-0 victory over Norwich which left the Canaries looking anxiously over their shoulder once again.
Jonathan de Guzman's first-half double laid the foundation with Wayne Routledge's second-half strike completing the job.
Peter Odemwingie continued his fine goalscoring form as Stoke recorded their third successive victory with a 1-0 triumph over Hull at the Britannia Stadium.
Odemwingie struck in the 62nd minute, firing in from the edge of the box after collecting the ball from a stray Ahmed Elmohamady pass to register his fourth goal in three games, and fifth since joining the Potters from Cardiff in January.
The hosts had earlier been indebted to their goalkeeper Asmir Begovic when he kept out a David Meyler shot that had taken a wicked deflection, and in the first half Hull defender Liam Rosenior failed to make the most of a good chance.
Overall, though, Stoke were good value for a win that takes them to 40 points for the campaign with six more games to go.