Manchester City moved level on points with fourth-placed Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League courtesy of a 2-0 home win over Bolton on Tuesday night.
Carlos Tevez drove home the game's opening goal - his 19th of the season - from the spot just after the half hour at Eastlands after impressive new boy Adam Johnson had drawn a rash and needless challenge from Paul Robinson.
Emmanuel Adebayor sealed matters with a brilliant piece of second-half skill, controlling on his chest before thumping an unstoppable volley past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the 73rd minute.
There was late drama at Fratton Park as 10-man Portsmouth equalised deep into stoppage time to secure a 1-1 draw against nine-man Sunderland.
A controversial early penalty from Darren Bent had looked to have secured all three points for the Wearsiders and heaped further misery on the bottom club.
Bent netted early on from the penalty spot after Ricardo Rocha was adjudged to have brought him down, with the Pompey defender eventually sent off after Hassan Yebda was initially mistakenly dismissed.
But the numbers were evened up nine minutes into the second half when Black Cats midfielder Lee Cattermole was sent off for a second bookable offence and the visitors were further depleted three minutes from time when David Meyler saw red just moments after coming on Andy Reid when he clattered into Steve Finnan.
Aruna Dindane then headed home Jamie O'Hara's cross to provide something to cheer for Pompey fans, with the club facing a winding-up petition in the High Court on Wednesday
Fulham climbed to ninth and left Burnley still looking for their first away win of the season by triumphing 3-0 over the Clarets at Craven Cottage.
First-half goals from Danny Murphy and David Elm poured on the agony for Brian Laws' side as the visitors were outplayed from the start.
Bobby Zamora ended any hopes Burnley had of producing a comeback by notching his side's third goal from a free-kick nine minutes after the interval.
In the night's other match, Wigan and Stoke battled out a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium.
Paul Scharner's early header put Roberto Martinez's Latics in the ascendancy but an equally fine second-half header from Tuncay Sanli secured the Potters a share of the spoils.
