Chelsea leapfrogged Tottenham into third place in the Premier League yesterday after coming from behind to beat Sunderland 2-1.

Chelsea’s fightback enabled them to take advantage of Spurs’ 2-2 draw with fellow Champions League hopefuls Everton at White Hart Lane, where Gylfi Sigurdsson scored a late equaliser to rescue the hosts in a pulsating game.

Rafa Benitez’s Chelsea moved up to third place with 58 points from 31 games, ahead of Spurs on goal difference but with a game in hand.

Fifth-placed Arsenal are two points behind, while sixth-placed Everton have 52.

Chelsea had fallen behind just before half-time when Cesar Azpilicueta steered Sunderland defender John O’Shea’s header into his own net.

The visitors returned the favour two minutes after the restart with an own goal of their own by Matthew Kilgallon following a dangerous move by Chelsea substitute Fernando Torres before Branislav Ivanovic sealed victory in the 55th minute to dash Paolo Di Canio’s hopes of marking his debut as Sunderland manager with a positive result.

Earlier in the day, Liverpool lost ground on the group chasing Champions League spots when they were held to a 0-0 draw by West Ham at Anfield, leaving them in seventh place with 49 points.

The draw boosted West Ham’s chances of avoiding a relegation battle as they are now seven points clear of the drop zone.

Newcastle also pulled themselves further away from trouble with a 1-0 win at home to Fulham thanks to Papiss Cisse’s stoppage-time winner.

Victory lifted them to 13th place with 36 points, a point behind West Ham.

Wigan remained in the danger zone on goal difference after Shaun Maloney scored from a direct free-kick deep into stoppage time to earn a dramatic 1-1 draw with 10-man Queens Park Rangers.

Second-from-bottom QPR played most of the match a man down after the 21st-minute dismissal of Bobby Zamora for a high challenge on Jordi Gomez.

Rangers, though, took an 85th-minute lead with a glorious strike from Loic Remy who rifled a first-time shot into the net from 25 metres.

At White Hart Lane, fans were still taking their seats when Emmanuel Adebayor struck with just 34 seconds on the clock – the second fastest Premier League goal of the season after Robin van Persie’s 31-second effort for Manchester United against West Ham in November.

The Togo striker stuck out his leg to meet a cross from Jan Vertonghen on the left to put Spurs in front.

Everton did not let the early setback get to them too much and Phil Jagielka equalised in the 15th minute with a header.

The England defender rose high from a Leighton Baines corner and headed the ball down through the legs of Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.

That early goal was forgotten when Everton went ahead in the 53rd minute through Kevin Mirallas, who weaved his way through the Spurs defence to net in a second successive game after scoring the winner in the 1-0 win over Stoke.

Spurs chased an equaliser with midfielder Mousa Dembele hitting the bar with a deflected shot before Adebayor also rattled the woodwork and the rebound gifted Sigurdsson the 87th-minute goal.

Summaries, standings

Chelsea 2
Kilgallon 47og; Ivanovic 55;
Sunderland 1
Azpilicueta 45og;

HT: 0-1. Att: 41,500.

Liverpool 0
West Ham 0

Att: 45,007.

Newcastle 1
Cisse 90;
Fulham 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 51,847.

QPR 1
Remy 85;
Wigan 1
Maloney 90;

HT: 0-0. Att: 16,658.
Red card: Zamora (QPR) 21.

Tottenham 2
Adebayor 1; Sigurdsson 87;
Everton 2
Jagielka 15; Mirallas 53;

HT: 1-1. Att: 36,192.

Playing today
Man. United vs Man. City - 21.00

League Trophy
Crewe 2 - Southend 0