Manchester United closed the gap on neighbours City back to two points with a 3-1 victory at Tottenham on Sunday.
Spurs dominated the first half and had an Emmanuel Adebayor effort disallowed for handball but were hit by a sucker punch on the stroke of the interval when Wayne Rooney headed home from a corner.
And two superb Ashley Young strikes in the second period made the points safe before Jermain Defoe netted a late consolation for the hosts.
Tottenham's defeat means they stay just four points clear of Arsenal - they had a 10-point cushion eight days ago - and seven ahead of fifth-placed Chelsea, who sacked Andre Villas-Boas on Sunday.
Derby specialist Shola Ameobi was Newcastle's hero once again as he spared Demba Ba's blushes with an injury-time equaliser against 10-man Sunderland.
The substitute made it 1-1 at the death after Ba had seen an 83rd-minute penalty saved by Simon Mignolet.
Nicklas Bendtner had given the visitors a 24th-minute lead by converting a controversial penalty, but the visitors managed to hang on until the dying seconds despite having Stephane Sessegnon sent off, while Black Cats captain Lee Cattermole was also dismissed after the final whistle for arguing with referee Mike Dean.
Wolves dropped back into the relegation zone on goal difference after a 5-0 thrashing at Fulham.
January arrival Pavel Pogrebnyak was the star of the show with a hat-trick, while Clint Dempsey's second-half double added extra gloss to the result for Martin Jol's side, who jump from 13th to eighth in the table on 36 points.
Source: FOOTYMAD
