West Ham at home was certainly one of those - but once again Newcastle put in a half-hearted display.
They stay tenth in the table, but here was the chance to go sixth!
1 Man Utd 27
2 Man City 25
3 Chelsea 24
4 Everton 20
5 West Brom 20
6 West Ham 18
Edin Dzeko lived up to his super-sub billing once again by firing Manchester City to a 2-1 victory against Tottenham.
Dzeko struck three minutes from time to complete a defiant second-half comeback from the unbeaten Blues, who closed the gap on Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester United to two points.
It was the Bosnian's seventh goal of the season, six of which have come from the bench, after Sergio Aguero had cancelled out Steven Caulker's first-half header.
It also extended City's unbeaten home Premier League record to an incredible 35, and their present unbeaten league run to 16, adding weight to manager Roberto Mancini's pre-match dismissal of any sense of crisis.
Luis Suarez dealt a double blow to Chelsea's title hopes after inadvertently ending John Terry's comeback and snatching a deserved 1-1 draw for Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
Terry looked set to enjoy a dream return to action after his domestic four-match racism ban when he powered the European champions ahead.
But the Blues captain then collided accidentally with the man at the centre of football's other high-profile race scandal, forcing him off on a stretcher, with Suarez going on to equalise for Liverpool and almost steal victory.
The draw prevented Chelsea from climbing back into second place as they recorded their third league game without a win to lie three points behind table-toppers Manchester United.