Arsenal and Manchester City lost ground on Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester United as Wolves claimed a shock win over Chelsea on a dramatic night which saw Liverpool beaten again.
Arsenal and City both had a player sent off late on in their goalless Emirates Stadium clash after the Gunners had twice hit the woodwork in the first half.
City’s Pablo Zabaleta and Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna were both sent off for a headbutt with time running out.
Wolves climbed off the bottom of the table with a surprise 1-0 home win over Chelsea.
Wolves went ahead after five minutes when George Elokobi tried to get a touch to a Stephen Hunt corner and Jose Bosingwa got the last touch, under pressure from Steven Fletcher, before the ball crossed the line.
Wayne Hennessey came to Wolves’ rescue when he stretched out a foot to deny Salomon Kalou and in the second half Didier Drogba hit a post but the win meant Wolves moved out of the bottom three at the expense of midlands rivals Aston Villa who lost 1-0 at home to Sunderland.
Emile Heskey was sent off with 20 minutes to go after pushing Jordan Henderson in the face and Sunderland broke the deadlock as Villa cleared a free-kick and Phil Bardsley shot through a crowded defence.
Sunderland had substitute Boudewijn Zenden sent off for a second yellow card with five minutes to go but held on for a win which sent Villa into the bottom three.
Blackburn Rovers poured the pressure on Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson with a 3-1 win at Ewood Park.
Blackburn went ahead through Martin Olsson on the half hour and then Benjani Mwaruwari fired into the roof of the net following a chip into the area by Morten Gamst Pedersen.
Mwaruwari tapped in the third after Junior Hoilett had cut in from the left and ran at the near post before sliding the ball across goal.
Steven Gerrard fired in with a right-footed shot with 10 minutes to go but later missed a penalty.
Leon Best marked his first Premier League start for Newcastle with a hat-trick as the Magpies beat West Ham 5-0 to send the visitors back to the bottom of the table.
Best finished left-footed across Robert Green from close range after Peter Lovenkrands had lobbed the ball over the Hammers defence, the striker adding his second six minutes before half-time with a shot after the Hammers defence had failed to clear a low cross from Loven-krands.
Kevin Nolan made it 3-0 when the Hammers could only clear the ball to the edge of the area and the midfielder fired low past Green.
Best completed his hat-trick when Nolan flicked the ball through and the unmarked striker fired past Green.
Lovenkrands clipped in at the near post from a cross by Joey Barton to complete the rout.
Bolton and Wigan drew 1-1, Rodrigo Moreno opening the scoring for the home side but Ronnie Stam earning the visitors a share of the spoils.
Seamus Coleman and Louis Saha were on target as Everton won 2-1 at home to Tottenham, Rafael van der Vaart netting what turned out to be a consolation for the visitors.
Summaries
Arsenal 0
Man. City 0
Red cards: Sagna (A) 90; Zabaleta (MC) 90.
Aston Villa 0
Sunderland 1
Bardsley 80;
Red cards: Heskey (AV) 70; Zenden (S) 85.
Blackburn 3
Olsson 30; Mwaruwari 38, 57;
Liverpool 1
Gerrard 80;
Bolton 1
Rodrigo 54;
Wigan 1
Stam 80;
Everton 2
Saha 3; Coleman 76;
Tottenham 1
Van der Vaart 11;
Newcastle 5
Best 18, 39, 60; Nolan 45; Lovenkrands 64;
West Ham 0
Wolves 1
Bosingwa 5 og;
Chelsea 0