Emmanuel Adebayor marked his return to the Premier League, after Togo's traumatic time at the African Nations Cup, with the opening goal in Manchester City's 2-0 win over Portsmouth at Eastlands on Sunday.
Adebayor, who survived the gun attack on Togo's team bus that killed two members of their delegation before the start of this month's tournament, looked offside before he lashed the ball past keeper David James after 39 minutes.
Vincent Kompany headed the second in stoppage time at the end of the first half to put City 2-0 ahead against cash-strapped, bottom-of-the-table Pompey who remain on 15 points, five adrift of Burnley and Hull City. The victory lifted Roberto Mancini's Manchester City to sixth above Aston Villa, keeping the race for fourth spot and the last Champions League qualifying berth as intense as the race for the title.
Tottenham Hotspur are fourth with 42 points from 24 matches followed by Liverpool (41 from 24), City (41 from 22) and Villa (40 from 23). Meanwhile, Chelsea skipper John Terry, whose personal troubles made newspaper headlines on Saturday, ensured he would also dominate the back pages when he headed Chelsea's late winner in a 2-1 Premier League success at Burnley.
The England captain was named on Friday as the player behind a gagging injunction involving his private life following a High Court hearing in London. After the order was lifted newspapers published pages of details about his alleged extramarital relationship with a "famous" woman.
The controversy did not seem to affect his performance on the pitch, though, and when he was left unmarked at an 82nd minute corner he powerfully headed home the winning goal. The victory moved the west London side four points clear of champions Manchester United at the top of the table. Asked about Terry's personal troubles, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti told ESPN: "That is his private life. "About his work we don't have to say anything. He is a fantastic professional, a fantastic captain, he did a great job for us tonight. All of Chelsea support him and his family."
After 23 matches, Chelsea have 54 points, Manchester United 50 and Arsenal 49, with Arsenal hosting United on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, attention was focused on the race for fourth place with current occupants Tottenham Hotspur, and the chasing Liverpool and Aston Villa all in action.
Liverpool and Villa gained ground on Spurs who drew 1-1 at Birmingham City. Liverpool beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at Anfield and Aston Villa also closed the gap with a 2-0 win at Fulham. Across Lancashire a few hours earlier, Liverpool beat Bolton with goals from Dirk Kuyt and an own goal from Kevin Davies.
At St Andrews, Spurs took the lead after 69 minutes with Jermaine Defoe scoring his 17th of the season in all competitions but, just when the victory seemed assured, Liam Ridgewell equalised in stoppage time. It is the second time in a week that Spurs have allowed victory to slip from their grasp in the dying seconds after Leeds United scored a last-minute penalty to force a 2-2 draw in their FA Cup fourth round match last Saturday.
Villa ended a run of four league matches without a goal with their 2-0 win at Fulham, who have now lost their last five league matches and were booed off at the end.
English Premier League results:
-- Played on Sunday:
-- Manchester City 2 (Adebayor 40, Kompany 45) Portsmouth 0
-- Played on Saturday:
-- Birmingham 1 (Ridgewell 90) Tottenham 1 (Defoe 69)
-- Burnley 1 (Fletcher 50) Chelsea 2 (Anelka 27, Terry 82)
-- Fulham 0 Aston Villa 2 (Agbonlahor 40, 44)
-- Hull 2 (Vennegoor of Hesselink 11, Hunt 52-pen) Wolves 2 (Gardner 49-og, Jarvis 67)
-- Liverpool 2 (Kuyt 37, K.Davies 70-og) Bolton 0
-- West Ham 0 Blackburn 0
-- Wigan 0 Everton 1 (Cahill 84).