Advantage Liverpool as Sunderland stun Chelsea

Sunderland condemned Chelsea to their first home Premier Leaguedefeat under Jose Mourinho with a stunning 2-1 victory on Saturday that tookLiverpool a step closer to the title.Chelsea were bidding to take over from Liverpool at the summit, but their loss tothe league's bottom club means that Brendan Rodgers's side can now open up afive-point lead if they win at Norwich City on Sunday.Samuel Eto'o put Chelsea ahead after only 12 minutes, but Sunderland equalisedquickly through Connor Wickham and claimed victory thanks to an 82nd-minute penalty from on-loan Liverpool striker Fabio Borini.Mourinho, who had avoided defeat in his previous 77 home league games asChelsea manager, hit out sarcastically at referee Mike Dean after the game."I just want to say four things, and I'm sorry, because if you make me (answer) morequestions, I will repeat in exactly the same way," he told Sky Sports."Congratulations to my players, because they gave what they have and what theydon't have. Congratulations to Sunderland, because they won. Congratulations toMike Dean, because he made a fantastic performance."And congratulations to Mike Riley (head of refereeing body Professional GameMatch Officials Limited), because what they did during the season was fantastic forthe way the championship is going."Having held third-placed Manchester City to a 2-2 draw in midweek, Sunderlandhave emerged as this season's kingmakers, and victory at Stamford Bridge gavetheir chances of avoiding relegation a sizeable boost.Gus Poyet's side, who had previously gone nine games without a win, finished theday three points from safety and also have a game in hand to play."As soon as I said we needed a miracle, things changed," said Sunderland managerPoyet, a former Chelsea player."The players kept believing. We needed something special and it happened in thelast four or five days, but it is not over for us yet."Chelsea took the lead in the 12th minute, Eto'o volleying in from Willian's left-wingcorner, but it took Sunderland only six minutes to draw level.Mark Schwarzer, deputising in goal for Chelsea in place of the unwell Petr Cech,spilled a long-range shot from Marcos Alonso and Wickham -- who claimed a braceat City -- pounced to clip home the rebound.- Spurs halt Fulham revival -Chelsea's response was not slow in coming and visiting goalkeeper Vito Mannonehad to produce smart saves to thwart Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic, MohamedSalah and Willian before half-time.Chelsea's frustrations told when Ramires lashed out at Sebastian Larsson with hisarm, catching the Sunderland midfielder in the face, but Dean appeared not to seethe incident.The Chelsea onslaught continued in the second half, with Eto'o curling just wideand substitute Demba Ba miscuing from Willian's cut-back, but the goal would notcome and there was worse to follow.In the 81st minute, Cesar Azpilicueta was penalised for sliding in on Jozy Altidoreand Borini, a former Chelsea striker, calmly beat Schwarzer from the spot.The penalty incident saw Altidore fall after bringing his standing foot down onAzpilicueta's leg and Chelsea reacted furiously, with assistant coach Rui Farianeeding to be restrained as he berated Dean. Earlier, Fulham squandered an opportunity to escape from the Premier Leaguerelegation zone after going down 3-1 at London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.Fulham equalised almost immediately through Steve Sidwell after Paulinho put Tottenham ahead in the 35th minute, but second-half goals from Harry Kane andYounes Kaboul saw the hosts prevail."If we had got any points here, it would have been an extra point for us," saidFulham manager Magath, whose side ended the day two points from safety."We have to win our home games and I think we can manage it." Fulham slipped one place to 19th after Cardiff City moved above them on goaldifference by drawing 1-1 at home to Stoke City.Marko Arnautovic gave Stoke the lead from the penalty spot in first-half injury time,but Peter Whittingham earned Cardiff a draw with a penalty of his own after StevenNzonzi tripped Fraizer Campbell.Elsewhere, an ice-cool stoppage-time penalty by Wilfried Bony gave Swansea City a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United that took the Welsh club six points clear of therelegation zone.Aston Villa spurned a chance to put clear daylight between themselves and thebottom three in a 0-0 draw at home to Southampton, while a 59th-minute MileJedinak penalty saw Crystal Palace win 1-0 at West Ham United. Source: AFP