The weekend Premiership programme saw Fulham continue their great run with an away draw at Sunderland which put The Cottagers closer to a Champions League spot than a relegation spot.
The other big weekend stories were the horrific injury suffered by Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey at Stoke and Chelsea's home defeat.
In relation to Ramsey it fortunately appears that the medical outlook is reported as reasonably good.
Chelsea imploded at home going down 4-2 against Man City and having two players sent off.
Chelsea (1) 2 Man City (1) 4
Chelsea's Premier League title bid suffered a major blow with a 4-2 home defeat by Manchester City but the early kick-off almost took second billing.
Wayne Bridge refused to shake John Terry's hand, then snatched away all three points as well as City romped to victory against nine-man Chelsea.
Bridge's reaction during the traditional pre-match pleasantries had been predicted, but precious else was on a crazy afternoon started and finished by Frank Lampard.
Two howlers from stand-in Chelsea keeper Henrique Hilario allowed Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy to profit, then Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack were red carded as Tevez and Bellamy scored again to fire City back into the top four and leave the hosts just one point clear of Manchester United.
Stoke (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 2
Arsenal closed to within three points of Chelsea with a 3-1 win at Stoke but the game was overshadowed by a horrific broken leg suffered by midfielder Aaron Ramsey in a tackle from Ryan Shawcross which saw the defender sent off.
Stoke opened the scoring when Danny Pugh headed in a long throw by Rory Delap which had been headed on by Shawcross.
But Nicklas Bendtner levelled things up before half-time when he headed home a cross by Cesc Fabregas.
Fabregas scored from the penalty spot when Pugh was penalised from handball and Thomas Vermaelen grabbed a third late on.
Burnley (1) 1 Portsmouth (1) 2
Portsmouth started their bid to avoid almost certain relegation after going into administration on Friday, meaning a nine-point deduction which has yet to be imposed, by winning 2-1 at Burnley.
Frederic Piquionne opened the scoring in the 25th minute but Martin Paterson brought the home side level when he hooked the ball over David James to level the scores six minutes later.
Stephen Fletcher missed a header from six yards from a Paterson cross before the visitors wrapped up the win but they did it the hard way.
Jamie O'Hara had missed a penalty before Hassan Yebda made it 2-1 to the visitors from the spot.
O'Hara's effort was saved by Brian Jensen after Clarke Carlisle fouled Piquionne but Yebda made no mistake to make it 2-1 after Carlisle was again penalised for fouling John Utaka.
Portsmouth had defender Ricardo Rocha sent off for a second booking - his second since joining the club in the January transfer window - in the 90th minute but held on for an invaluable victory.
It was Rocha's second dismissal in only three games for Portsmouth after his sending off against Sunderland on his last appearance.
Birmingham (1) 1 Wigan (0) 0
James McFadden netted the winner in first-half injury time as Birmingham won 1-0 at home to Wigan to reach the 40-point mark.
Birmingham had gone close when Scott Dann's header hit the bar and then Chris Kirkland saved at point-blank range from McFadden but the Wigan keeper could do nothing when the same player converted from the spot after former Birmingham player Mario Melchiot was harshly penalised for a challenge on Keith Fahey.
Joe Hart did well to block a close-range shot from Hugo Rodallega in the second half before the game was held up for several minutes due to an injury to a linesman.
He had to be carried off after being caught by a challenge by Liam Ridgewell on Wigan's James McCarthy. He was replaced by the fourth official after a long delay which led to seven minutes of stoppage time.
Bolton (1) 1 Wolverhampton (0) 0
Zat Knight's close-range finish close to half-time earned Bolton all three points against fellow strugglers Wolves at the Reebok Stadium.
Tottenham (2) 2 Everton (0) 1
Tottenham ensured this week's virus at the club did not derail their Champions League hopes as they held on for a 2-1 victory against Everton and reclaimed fourth spot in the Barclays Premier League.
Roman Pavlyuchenko scored his sixth goal in four games when he netted the opener at White Hart Lane, then Luka Modric doubled the lead with a fine second against David Moyes' men.
Harry Redknapp's side, however, had to survive a second-half comeback from the visitors, who scored through Ayegbeni Yakubu and then saw substitute Landon Donovan miss an open goal.
Liverpool (2) 2 Blackburn (1) 1
Liverpool kept the pressure on Spurs as Fernando Torres marked his first start since January 13 by scoring the winner in an ill-tempered 2-1 victory over Blackburn at Anfield.
The Spain international hit his 13th goal in 17 Barclays Premier League appearances just before half-time, having missed five weeks at the start of the year after a knee operation.
Liverpool had gone ahead midway thrh the half through Steven Gerrard only for Jamie Carragher's handball to allow Keith Andrews to equalise from the penalty spot five minutes before the interval.
The Reds are in sixth place, just a point behind Tottenham and Manchester City.
Sunderland (0) 0 Fulham (0) 0
Mark Schwarzer ensured Fulham's unbeaten run in all competitions was extended to eight games as Sunderland's plight worsened following a goalless draw.
The Australian produced solid saves from Darren Bent and Alan Hutton either side of half-time to claim a clean sheet at the Stadium of Light.
Opposite number Craig Gordon did not have a single save of note to make as the sides fought out a stalemate which laves the Black Cats without a league win in 14 attempts and just three points clear of the drop zone.
Source sporting life