Premier League review:Liverpool picked up just their eighth win in 25 games to take advantage of a Tottenham slip up at Birmingham and close the gap on the fourth-placed Londoners. They're under pressure themselves, however, after a Gabi Agbonlahor brace ensured a 2-0 win for Aston Villa at Fulham.
Villa remain one point behind Liverpool and two behind Spurs, but have a game in hand on both as the race for a crucial Champions League place hots up.
It was Spurs who were the biggest losers after being denied three points by a last minute equaliser from Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell.
Christian Benitez missed the best chance of the first half for Birmingham but Spurs ended the half on top and dominated the second period, with Peter Crouch coming close after good work from Jermain Defoe.
In the 69th minute the roles were reversed and Defoe got on the end of Crouch’s flick-on to give Spurs the lead. It appeared to be enough for the visitors until the Blues’ storming finish, which might even have produced a stoppage-time winner but for some fine defending by Michael Dawson.
There was no such late drama for Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool.
Chung-yong Lee burst through the Reds defence early on to beat Jose Reina but saw his shot kicked off the line by Sotirios Kyrgiakos, and the miss cost Bolton dear as Dirk Kuyt stabbed home the opener in the 37th minute after Alberto Aquilani headed down Emiliano Insua's deep cross.
Lee was booked for diving when he fell under the challenge of Aquilani, then David Ngog missed a glorious chance to make the game safe when he struck the ball off the bar in front of an open goal.
But Liverpool’s nerves were finally eased in the 70th minute when a shot from Insua took a huge deflection off Kevin Davies and flew past Jussi Jaaskelainen in the Bolton goal.
Agbonlahor opened the scoring at Craven Cottage when he headed home Stiliyan Petrov’s 40th-minute cross, and four minutes later he turned Brede Hangeland in the box before firing the second past Mark Schwarzer.
Mick McCarthy's Wolvestwice came from behind to grab a potentially vital point in an entertaining 2-2 draw at Hull, and may even have left the KC Stadium disappointed not to win it.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink opened the scoring for Hull in the 11th minute but the visitors equalised early in the second half when Anthony Gardner looped an attempted clearance past his own goalkeeper.
Stephen Hunt rattled Hull back into the lead from the spot after a silly foul by Ronald Zubar, before Matt Jarvis equalised on 67 minutes. Jarvis and substitute Geoffrey Mujangi Bia were both denied by fine saves from Boaz Myhill late on.
Tim Cahill headed home an 84th-minute corner from former Latic Leighton Baines to give Evertona hard-fought but well-earned 1-0 win over Wiganat the DW Stadium.
The visitors dominated for long periods with Louis Saha’s first-half shot deflecting off Titus Bramble onto the base of the post, and Saha denied a clear penalty after a trip by Gary Caldwell.
Paul Scharner forced a super save from Tim Howard in the 73rd minute and then Marouane Fellaini had a tap-in ruled out for offside for David Moyes’ men before Cahill struck. Charles N’Zogbia hit the bar for Wigan in the closing stages.
West Ham's first game at Upton Park under new ownership did not go entirely to plan as they had to hang on for a goalless draw at home to Blackburn.
Morten Gamst Pedersen hit the bar and Gael Givet saw a shot cleared off the line for Rovers. The Hammers belatedly stirred with Alessandro Diamanti forcing a brilliant diving save out of Paul Robinson.