Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 to stay two points behind leaders Manchester United in the Premier League but Chelsea lost ground in the title race when they could only draw 1-1 at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
Champions City came from behind to beat Spurs at the Etihad Stadium with substitute Edin Dzeko lashing home their 88th- minute winner after Sergio Aguero had cancelled out Steven Caulker's first-half opener for the visitors.
Chelsea dropped points at Stamford Bridge where skipper John Terry scored on his return from a four-match domestic suspension before being carried off with a knee injury after an accidental collision with Luis Suarez 19 minutes later.
Suarez then headed Liverpool's equaliser 17 minutes from time.
United, who beat Aston Villa 3-2 on Saturday, have 27 points from 11 matches, followed by City on 25, Chelsea on 24, and Everton and West Bromwich Albion on 20.
In the day's other game, former Newcastle United manager Sam Allardyce and ex-Magpies skipper Kevin Nolan, who scored the winner, enjoyed their return to St James' Park as West Ham United beat Newcastle 1-0 to move up to sixth.
Spurs, who had won their previous three away league matches, went ahead when Steven Caulker headed home a Tom Huddlestone free-kick after 21 minutes to threaten City's unbeaten record.
City though, took control after halftime with Aguero scoring a deserved equaliser after 65 minutes when he planted the ball wide of the diving Brad Friedel.
Dzeko, who replaced Carlos Tevez with 17 minutes to play, then struck in the 88th minute when he controlled a chipped pass from David Silva and lashed the ball past Friedel for the winner. Last season he scored four of City's goals in their 5-1 win at White Hart Lane.
The victory lifted City to 25 points, two behind leaders Manchester United. Chelsea, third on 23, were playing Liverpool later along with Newcastle United and West Ham United.
Dzeko has now scored seven times this season, six of them after coming on as a substitute but does not like being known as "supersub".
Last month against West Bromwich Albion he came on with 10 minutes to go and scored twice to give City a 2-1 win at The Hawthorns.
"Yes, its not the first time its happened, but I think we were the better team after 90 minutes, it shows our charcter and that we are strong," Dzeko told Sky Sports.
"It shows we can come back to win it, but next time, I hope we go 1-0 up and then to go on and win the game. It is much harder to do it this way."
Asked if he had a message for his manager Roberto Mancini, the Bosnian international replied: "The goals are my message."