Manchester City squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to close the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea when they let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to struggling Burnley yesterday.

Chelsea stuttered to a 1-1 draw at Southampton and champions City looked poised to narrow the gap at the top to one point when they scored twice in the first half against Burnley, but Ashley Barnes lashed in an equaliser nine minutes from time.

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris inspired his team to a feisty 0-0 draw with third-placed Manchester United and Arsenal climbed to fifth with a 2-1 win at London rivals West Ham.

Fourth-placed Southampton took a deserved 17th-minute lead against Chelsea, Sadio Mane running clear of the defence to slot coolly past Thibaut Courtois at St Mary’s.

The visitors struggled to produce their usual fluent play but equalised before half-time when Eden Hazard brilliantly controlled a fine pass from Cesc Fabregas, cut inside and stroked the ball into the net.

Chelsea poured forward in search of a winner but were frustrated by well-organised Southampton who had midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin sent off in the closing stages after receiving a second yellow card.

Jose Mourinho’s team remained top of the table, three points ahead of City.

“I can believe Southampton defended with everything they have – with organisation, spirit and solidarity of players and the effort they fought to get the point,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.

“My players tried to win, especially in the second half. A point is a point against a difficult team,” added the Portuguese who was fuming that his side were not awarded a penalty when Fabregas went down in the area but was booked for diving.

Manchester City, seeking a 10th successive win, eased into a 2-0 lead against Burnley thanks to first-half goals by David Silva and Fernandinho but the visitors got a lifeline when George Boyd tapped in just after the interval.

Barnes struck with a sweet strike from 12 metres to level for Burnley who hung on for a welcome point in their bid to avoid relegation.

Spurs survived a wave of early United pressure but threatened to end the visitors’ eight-match unbeaten run in the closing stages at White Hart Lane.

United, who had won seven of their last eight games, stayed third in the table, 10 points behind Chelsea, and Tottenham are seventh.

“We lost two points. We had the best performance of the season in the first half and could have scored four or five goals,” United manager Louis van Gaal said.

“We were fantastic. But when you don’t score goals you cannot win. The second half was a struggle.”

The visitors, who named an unchanged starting line-up for the first time in 85 matches, dominated the first half.

Frenchman Lloris made a fine diving save to tip over Ashley Young’s fierce curling shot and Phil Jones had a close-range effort correctly ruled out for offside.

The influential Juan Mata’s deflected free-kick also crashed against the post and Robin van Persie should have scored after running on to a sublime pass from Michael Carrick but Lloris blocked his tame shot.

Spurs nearly sneaked victory eight minutes from time when midfielder Ryan Mason blazed the ball over after good hold-up play from Harry Kane.

Arsenal struck twice before half-time through Santi Cazorla’s penalty and a neat finish from Danny Welbeck but West Ham hit back nine minutes after the interval through Cheikhou Kouyate.

Bottom club Leicester City won 1-0 at Hull City, Mame Diouf scored twice to lead Stoke City to a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich and managerless Crystal Palace eked out a 0-0 draw at QPR.

Leicester stayed bottom, three points behind Burnley, Palace and Hull.

Results and standings

Premier League

Aston Villa 0
Sunderland 0

Att: 35,436.
Red card: Delph (AV) 49.

Hull City 0
Leicester City 1
Mahrez 32;

HT: 0-1. Att: 23,809.
Red cards: Konchesky (LC) 88; Quinn (HC) 90.

Man. City 2
Silva 23; Fernandinho 33;
Burnley 2
Boyd 47; Barnes 81;

HT: 2-0. Att: 45,608.

Newcastle 3
Cisse 34; Ayoze 51; Colback 68;
Everton 2
Kone 5; Mirallas 84;

HT: 1-1. Att: 52,313.

QPR 0
Crystal Palace 0

Att: 18,011.

Southampton 1
Mane 17;
Chelsea 1
Hazard 45;

HT: 1-1. Att: 31,641.
Red card: Schneiderlin (S) 88.

Stoke City 2
Diouf 51, 66;
West Brom 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 27,070.

Tottenham 0
Man. United 0

Att: 35,711.

West Ham 1
Kouyate 54;
Arsenal 2
Cazorla 41 pen; Welbeck 44;

HT: 0-2. Att: 34,977.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	19	14	4	1	41	14	46
Man. City	19	13	4	2	41	17	43
Man. United	19	10	6	3	33	19	36
S’thampton	19	10	3	6	32	15	33
Arsenal	19	9	6	4	34	23	33
West Ham	19	9	4	6	30	23	31
Tottenham	19	9	4	6	24	24	31
Swansea	18	8	4	6	23	19	28
Newcastle	19	7	5	7	22	28	26
Liverpool	18	7	4	7	22	24	25
Stoke City	19	7	4	8	21	23	25
Everton	19	5	6	8	29	31	21
Aston Villa	19	5	6	8	11	22	21
Sunderland	19	3	11	5	16	27	20
QPR	19	5	3	11	21	34	18
West Brom	19	4	5	0	18	28	17
Hull City	19	3	7	9	18	26	16
C. Palace	19	3	7	9	20	30	16
Burnley	19	3	7	9	14	29	16
Leicester	19	3	4	12	17	31	13

Playing today
Liverpool vs Swansea City - 21.00

Next fixtures

Thursday
13.45 Stoke City vs Manchester United.
16.00 Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace; Hull City vs Everton; Liverpool vs Leicester; Man. City vs Sunderland; Newcastle vs Burnley; QPR vs Swansea; Southampton vs Arsenal; West Ham vs West Brom.
18.30 Tottenham vs Chelsea.

Top scorers
14 goals: Aguero (Man. City).
13 goals: Costa (Chelsea).
12 goals: Austin (QPR).
10 goals: Sanchez (Arsenal).
9 goals: Cisse (Newcastle).
8 goals: Rooney (Man. United)Van Persie (Man. United), Bony (Swansea), Pelle (Southampton).
7 goals: Berahino (West Brom), Sakho (West Ham), Ulloa (Leicester), Eriksen (Tottenham), Hazard (Chelsea).
6 goals: Lukaku (Everton), Toure (Man. City), Silva (Man. City), Chadli (Tottenham).

The Championship
Blackburn 0 - Middlesbrough 0
Blackpool 1 - Rotherham 1
Cardiff City 2 - Watford 4
Huddersfield 2 - Bolton 1
Millwall 0 - Bournemouth 2
Nottm Forest 1 - Birmingham 3
Reading 2 - Norwich City 1
Wolves 2 - Brentford 1

Playing today
Fulham vs Brighton - 21.00

Standings: Bournemouth 48; Ipswich Town 44; Middlesbrough 43; Derby County 42; Watford 41; Brentford 40; Norwich City, Wolves 37; Blackburn Rovers 35; Nottingham Forest, Charlton, Cardiff City, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City 31; Bolton, Reading 29; Fulham, Huddersfield 28; Rotherham 26; Leeds United 24; Millwall 23; Wigan Athletic, Brighton 20; Blackpool 14.

League One
Bradford City 1 - Notts County 0
Coventry City 0 - Chesterfield 0
Crawley Town 0 - Colchester 0
Crewe 1 - Preston NE 1
Gillingham 1 - Bristol City 3
MK Dons 0 - Walsall 3
Peterborough 0 - Doncaster 0
Rochdale 0 - Fleetwood 2
Sheffield Utd-Scunthorpe (postponed, bad weather)
Swindon 1 - Port Vale 0

Playing today
Barnsley vs Oldham - 20.45
Yeovil vs Leyton Orient - 20.45

Standings: Bristol City 48; Swindon 47; Preston 45; MK Dons 44; Bradford 36; Sheffield United 33; Chesterfield 32; Rochdale, N. County, Peterborough 31; Walsall, Fleetwood, Oldham, Doncaster 30; Port Vale 29; Barnsley, Coventry, Scunthorpe 26; Gillingham 25; Crawley, Crewe 23; L. Orient 22; Colchester 21; Yeovil 20.

League Two
Accrington p - Burton p
Wimbledon 4 - Exeter City 1
Bury 2 - Mansfield 0
Carlisle United 0 - York City 3
Cheltenham 0 - Newport 1
Hartlepool 0 - Morecambe 2
Luton Town 1 - Portsmouth 1
Plymouth 1 - Oxford United 2
Shrewsbury 0 - Wycombe 0
Southend 0 - Dagenham 0
Stevenage 3 - Cambridge 2
Tranmere 2 - Northampton 1

Standings: Shrewsbury, Wycombe 44; Burton 43; Luton 42; Newport 40; Southend 39; Plymouth, Bury, Exeter 37; Stevenage 34; Wimbledon, Morecambe 33; Accrington 30; Cambridge 29; Portsmouth, Oxford 28; Mansfield 27; York City 26; Cheltenham 25; Northampton, Carlisle 24; Tranmere, Dagenham 22; Hartlepool 14.