Chelsea’s title hopes suffered a major blow with a shock 2-1 home loss to bottom side Sunderland yesterday as manager Jose Mourinho suffered a Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge for the first time.

Fabio Borini, on-loan from league leaders Liverpool, scored the winner with a penalty after Cesar Azpilicueta brought down Jozy Altidore, bringing an end to Mourinho’s record of 77 unbeaten home league outings with Chelsea.

Sunderland’s Connor Wickham had equalised to cancel out Samuel Eto’o’s early opener.

The defeat left Chelsea in second spot on 75 points from 35 games with three matches left, two points behind Liverpool who have played 34 and visit Norwich City today.

Sunderland stay bottom with 29 points, one behind Fulham and Cardiff with a game in hand, and three off Norwich who are just above the relegation zone in 17th.

Newcastle United slumped to their fifth straight loss after a late Wilfried Bony penalty earned Swansea City a 2-1 win, lifting the Swans to 36 points, six clear of relegation danger, while Crystal Palace’s resurgence under Tony Pulis continued with their fifth consecutive victory courtesy of Mile Jedinak’s second-half penalty in a 1-0 win at West Ham United.

Cardiff made much of the early running but struggled to break down an organised Stoke side flourishing under Mark Hughes.

The hosts fell behind before the break when Peter Odemwingie, who spent the first half of the season in south Wales before trading clubs with Kenwyne Jones, went down easily under Kim Bo-kyung’s challenge, with Marko Arnautovic converting.

They were back on level terms soon after restart after being awarded their first penalty of the season when Steven N’Zonzi hacked down Fraizer Campbell, allowing Peter Whittingham to get the better of Begovic from the spot.

Cardiff thought they had gone ahead soon afterwards when Juan Cala had a goal chalked off for offside, while Oussama Assaidi and Jonathan Walters went close to winning it for Stoke late on.

Consecutive wins over Aston Villa and Norwich had given Fulham hope they could produce a late relegation escape act but the defeat to Spurs leaves them on 30 points.

Paulinho opened the scoring for Spurs before Steve Sidwell, who also missed a 77th-minute penalty, equalised soon after.

Harry Kane netted for the third consecutive match, after half-time, and defender Younes Kaboul added a third goal on 62 minutes to keep Spurs in sixth spot with 63 points.

Fulham manager Felix Magath said getting a point at White Hart Lane would have been a bonus, but it was their home matches against Hull and Crystal Palace that would determine their top-flight status.

At Upton Park, Palace were grateful to fine first half saves by Argentine keeper Julian Speroni who denied Andy Carroll and Mohamed Diame, and earned the only goal of the match from the spot after Cameron Jerome was brought down by Pablo Armero.

It was the second time Palace have won five consecutive top-flight games and continues their good form since Pulis replaced Ian Holloway, with their top-flight status all but confirmed after looking like relegation certainties earlier on.

Results and standings

Premier League

Aston Villa 0
Southampton 0

Att: 35,134.

Cardiff City 1
Whittingham 51p;
Stoke City 1
Arnautovic 45p;

HT: 0-1. Att: 27,686.

Chelsea 1
Eto’o 12;
Sunderland 2
Wickham 18; Borini 82 pen;

HT: 1-1. Att: 41,210.

Newcastle 1
Ameobi 23;
Swansea 2
Bony 45, 90 pen;

HT: 1-1. Att: 51,057.

Tottenham 3
Paulinho 35; Kane 48; Kaboul 62;
Fulham 1
Sidwell 37;

HT: 1-1. Att: 35,841.
Missed penalty: Sidwell (F) 77.

West Ham 0
Crystal Palace 1
Jedinak 59 pen;

HT: 0-0. Att: 34,977.

  P W D L F A Pts
Liverpool 34 24 5 5 93 42 77
Chelsea 35 23 6 6 67 26 75
Man. City 33 22 5 6 88 34 71
Arsenal 34 20 7 7 59 41 67
Everton 34 19 9 6 55 34 66
Tottenham 35 19 6 10 51 49 63
Man. United 33 17 6 10 56 38 57
Southampton 35 13 10 12 50 45 49
Newcastle 35 14 4 17 39 54 46
Stoke City 35 11 11 13 39 49 44
C. Palace 35 13 4 18 28 41 43
West Ham 35 10 7 18 38 48 37
Swansea 35 9 9 17 47 51 36
Hull City 33 10 6 17 34 40 36
Aston Villa 34 9 8 17 35 49 35
West Brom 33 6 15 12 40 51 33
Norwich City 34 8 8 18 26 53 32
Cardiff City 35 7 9 19 31 65 30
Fulham 35 9 3 23 35 77 30
Sunderland 34 7 8 19 33 57 29

Playing today
Everton vs Man. United - 17:10
Hull City vs Arsenal - 15:05
Norwich City vs Liverpool - 13:00

Tomorrow
Man. City vs West Brom - 21:00

Top scorers
29 goals: Suarez (Liverpool)
20 goals: Sturridge (Liverpool)
18 goals: Toure (Man. City)
15 goals: Aguero (Man. City), Rooney (Man. United), Rodriguez (S’mpton).

Next fixtures
Saturday: 13.45 Southampton vs Everton. 16.00 Fulham vs Hull; Stoke vs Tottenham; Swansea vs Aston Villa; West Brom vs West Ham. 18.30 Man. United vs Norwich.
Sunday: 13.00 Sunderland vs Cardiff. 15.05 Liverpool vs Chelsea. 17.10 Crystal Palace vs Manchester City.
Monday, April 28: 21.00 Arsenal vs Newcastle.

The Championship
Barnsley 0 - Leeds 1
Leicester 1 - QPR 0
M’boro 1 - Millwall 2
Nottm Forest 1 - Birmingham 0
Watford 3 - Ipswich Town 1

Standings: Leicester City 93; Burnley 86; Derby County 78; Queen’s Park Rangers 73; Wigan Athletic 70; Brighton 65; Reading, Ipswich Town 64; Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth 62; Blackburn Rovers 61; Watford 60; Middlesbrough 58; Bolton 55; Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United 53; Huddersfield Town 47; Birmingham, Doncaster, Millwall 43; Charlton, Blackpool 42; Barnsley 39; Yeovil Town 37.

League Two
Burton 3 - Hartlepool 0
Portsmouth 3 - Bristol Rovers 2

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