Robin van Persie fired Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League on Sunday but Liverpool's title ambitions suffered a fresh setback when they were held at home by struggling Tottenham.

Embattled Spurs boss Martin Jol must have thought his side had pulled off a famous victory before Fernando Torres produced a last-minute header to earn Liverpool a 2-2 draw they scarcely deserved.

Robbie Keane had scored twice either side of half-time to give Spurs the lead after Andriy Voronin had given Liverpool an early lead.

Rafael Benitez's side are now six points adrift of the league leaders and another uninspiring performance at home will have done little to stem growing scepticism about the Spaniard's leadership in the wake of the midweek defeat by Marseille which has left them battling for survival in the Champions League.

In contrast, things could hardly be going better for Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger's side made it 10 wins in a row in all competitions with a 3-2 win over Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium.

Van Persie's second goal of the afternoon secured three points which lifted Arsenal back above Manchester United, who had beaten Wigan 24 hours earlier.

Arsenal had established a two-goal lead inside a quarter of an hour through a superb free-kick from Van Persie and a close-range strike by Philippe Senderos.

But a Ross Wallace shot and a Kenwyne Jones header got Sunderland back on level terms and Roy Keane's side were a little unlucky not to take something from a match they finished with 10 men as a result of the late red card given to Paul McShane for a two-footed challenge on Alexander Hleb.

Salomon Kalou scored Chelsea's first goal in five league outings and that proved enough to secure a 1-0 win at Bolton, their first in the league since last month's departure of Jose Mourinho.

The three points will have come as a welcome boost for new manager Avram Grant but there was no sign of the expansive attacking football the former Israel manager has pledged to introduce in line with the requirements of the club's owner Roman Abramovich.

Another two superb goals by Brazilian Elano helped Manchester City to a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough and kept Sven-Goran Eriksson's side in third place, just one point behind their crosstown rivals United.

An own goal by Chris Riggott provided City's other goal with Ben Hutchinson's first goal for Boro coming near the end when the home side were already sure of maintaining their 100 percent league record at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Michael Owen came off the bench for Newcastle just days after undergoing stomach muscle surgery in Germany and, predictably, marked his return to action with a goal as the Magpies beat Everton 3-2.

Nicky Butt had opened the scoring for Newcastle. Andrew Johnson, with his first goal since February, equalised but a superb long-range effort from Emre Belozoglu and Owen's late header made the points safe before an own goal by goalkeeper Shay Given made it 3-2 at the final whistle.

Elsewhere, Blackburn beat Birmingham 2-1 with a first-half goal from the impressive David Bentley and a Benni McCarthy penalty. Cameron Jerome pulled one back for Birmingham but Steve Bruce's side were unable to conjure up an equaliser in the closing stages.

Reading bounced back from last week's 7-4 defeat at Portsmouth by beating Derby 1-0 to pull away from the relegation zone. A second-half header from Ireland striker Kevin Doyle condemned the bottom side to their sixth defeat in nine matches this season.