Liverpool could not keep the pressure on Chelsea as Sunderland came from a goal down twice to hold Jurgen Klopp's men to a draw, while Manchester City brought all their bouncebackability powers to the fore, seeing off Burnley despite playing with ten men for the majority of the match in the Premier League.
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace highlights
Needing a win to cut Chelsea's lead to three points, Liverpool ran into a determined Sunderland side, who equalised twice through Jermain Defoe, with both goals coming from the penalty spot. Daniel Sturridge and Sadio Mane were the goalscorers for Liverpool, who are now five points behind Chelsea and could find themselves eight adrift if the Blues beat Tottenham on Wednesday.
Liverpool, coming off a fantastic 1-0 win over Manchester City, got the start they wanted against Sunderland, scoring the opening goal in just the 19th minute. Daniel Sturridge, in the starting lineup, justified his selection by scoring a poacher's goal. The ball fell to him on the bounce after Dejan Lovren scuffed his shot off a corner and the Liverpool striker coolly headed over Vito Mannone.
That goal had come after Liverpool had threatened to score, forcing a couple of smart saves from Mannone, but Sunderland would bounce back soon enough.
Didier N'Dong was the one to create the opening for Sunderland, scurrying past Georginio Wijnaldum and then enticing a challenge from Ragnar Klavan before going down inside the box. The referee pointed to the box and Defoe stepped up to slot the ball into the bottom corner past the right hand of Simon Mignolet.
Mignolet, though, would produce a save right after the equaliser to deny Defoe a brace. It was a chance that you would normally bank on Defoe to score. Adnan Januzaj slipped the ball through to the veteran and with just Mignolet to beat, Defoe, who seemed to lose his concentration when he looked at the assistant referee to see if he was onside, which he was quite comfortably, tried to take the ball around the goalkeeper, who got his hands on the ball with Fabio Borini failing to find the back of the net on the rebound.
Sunderland stayed strong until halftime and well into the second 45 as well, with Liverpool looking frustrated with every passing minute. However, with those two games in 48 hours thing coming into play, you always felt Liverpool would find a way to go ahead, and so they did, via Mane. It was some awful defending that allowed Liverpool to score, with a corner finding its way to Mane at the far post with the Liverpool forward having the simple task of tapping in from close range.
With 18 minutes plus stoppage time left, though, Sunderland had a chance to find a way back and they did when Mane handled inside the area off a Sebastian Larsson freekick. Defoe, again, made no mistake from the spot to dent Liverpool's title challenge just that little bit.
At the Etihad, Manchester City battled against the odds to pick up a victory. Down to ten men after just 32 minutes, when Fernandinho was given a straight red card for an awful two-footed challenge, City found a way past Burnley by scoring twice in the second half.
Gael Clichy opened the scoring in the 58th minute, with his cross-shot across goal somehow missing everyone and hitting the bottom corner.
Four minutes later it looked like game over, as substitute Sergio Aguero produced a quite outstanding finish from an acute angle after the ball fell to him off a save from the goalkeeper Tom Heaton, who had, initially, denied Raheem Sterling.
Burnley, however, pulled one back from a corner with Ben Mee scoring off a shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and just crept in before bouncing back with the GDS coming into play, but City held on for the three points.
In the early game, Leicester City failed to spark up front, playing out a goalless draw with Middlesbrough, who at times looked the more likely to break the deadlock. In a game of very few chances, though, both sides left the pitch relatively satisfied, especially considering this was their second game in as many days.
Results: Middlesbrough 0-0 Leicester City; Everton 3-0 Southampton; Manchester City 2-1 Burnley; Sunderland 2-2 Liverpool; West Brom 3-1 Hull City; West Ham 0-2 Manchester United.
