Manchester City’s title challenge suffered another blow on Wednesday as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City.
That leaves them eight points adrift of leaders Manchester United having played a game more.
Tevez struck after four minutes, his shot deflecting off Martin Jiranek on its way past Ben Foster, but Nikola Zigic stabbed in David Bentley’s low cross midway through the first half to level.
Aleksandar Kolarov restored City’s lead four minutes before half-time with a free-kick, but with 13 minutes to go Kevin Phillips was tripped by Patrick Vieira, and Craig Gardner converted the resulting penalty.
Liverpool left Luis Suarez out of their starting 11 against Stoke City but new signing from Ajax came on as a second-half substitute and added the second as Liverpool closed within two points of Sunderland in sixth place with a 2-0 win.
After an untidy first half, Raul Meireles put Liverpool ahead two minutes into the second, stabbing in following a Steven Gerrard free-kick.
Suarez claimed the second 11 minutes from time, Andy Wilkinson getting the final touch as he attempted to clear the Uruguayan’s shot.
West Ham United climbed to third from bottom with a 3-1 win at Blackpool.
Having scored a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest on Sunday in the FA Cup, Victor Obinna struck again, his shot slithering under goalkeeper Richard Kingson after 24 minutes.
Making his debut, Robbie Keane added a second 13 minutes later, following in after Kingson had saved another effort from Obinna.
Charlie Adam pulled one back, his corner from the right curling straight in, but Obinna restored the two-goal margin before half-time with a 25-yard drive.
Tottenham Hotspur are three points behind Chelsea in fifth after a 1-0 win at Blackburn Rovers, Peter Crouch heading in a Rafael van der Vaart cross after three minutes.
Having sold Andy Carroll on Monday, Newcastle lost another centre-forward as Shola Ameobi suffered a fractured cheekbone in their 1-0 defeat at Fulham.
Damien Duff got the winner against his former club, running onto Danny Murphy’s ball over the top to score his first goal of the season after 67 minutes.
Daniel Sturridge scored on his debut for Bolton Wanderers, getting a last-minute winner as his side beat bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0.
