Steven Naismith denies Manchester City maximum points

Steven Naismith's equaliser for Everton against Manchester City meant the champions fell two points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side were far from at their best and even the return from injury of leading scorer Sergio Agüero as a second-half substitute could not get them over the line.

Fernandinho put them in front in the 74th minute but Naismith's glancing header earned a deserved 1-1 draw for the hosts. City certainly missed the commanding presence of Yaya Toure, on African Nations Cup duty with Ivory Coast, and have not won a match in which he has been absent for almost exactly 12 months.

While the neat passing was still there the defending champions came up against a block – both mental and physical – once they reached the opposition penalty area and could have done with the Ivorian driving through from midfield to give Everton another dimension to worry about. But the home side dug in, despite the odd scare, to end a run of four successive league defeats.

City are unbeaten in 14, which includes nine wins and three draws, but with Chelsea winning 2-0 against visitors Newcastle they find themselves two points behind the outright leaders.

Alan Pardew enjoyed a winning start to his reign as Crystal Palace boss as his side came from behind to beat Tottenham 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

Following a goalless first half, Harry Kane’s 17th goal of the season four minutes after the break gave the visitors the advantage.

But Palace then poured forward in search of an equaliser, with Dwight Gayle making the breakthrough in the 69th minute from the penalty spot before Jason Puncheon scored his first goal for more than four months to seal a memorable day for Pardew.

At the bottom of the table, Leicester are just two points adrift of safety as they beat Aston Villa 1-0 at the King Power Stadium, and have now taken seven points from their last three matches.

Paul Konchesky, sent off in the 2-1 defeat at Villa in early December after a clash with Alan Hutton – a decision later overturned on appeal – netted the only goal in first-half injury time.

There were further red cards in the dying stages of another feisty encounter when City's Matty James and Villa's Republic of Ireland internationals Ciaran Clark were both dismissed following a centre-circle melee.

In another vital relegation battle at Turf Moor, it was hosts Burnley who clinched the three points to lift themselves out of the bottom three and drop QPR back into the danger zone, with Harry Redknapp's side setting a new Premier League record of 10 successive away defeats.

Scott Arfield scored his first goal since the opening-day with a strike in the 12th minute, only for Charlie Austin to equalise from the spot just after the half hour. Picking himself up after being brought down by Dean Marney, Austin scored his 13th goal of the campaign, but his joy was shortlived as Danny Ings scored what proved to be the winner four minutes later.

In his first league match in charge of West Brom, head coach Tony Pulis conjured up a 1-0 victory over Hull at The Hawthorns thanks to Saido Berahino.

Berahino, who failed to celebrate any of his four goals in Albion's 7-0 FA Cup romp over Gateshead last weekend, certainly did so on this occasion when he fired home the only goal from 12 yards in the 78th minute.

West Ham found themselves managerless for the day with Sam Allardyce absent with a chest infection, and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

The Hammers opened the scoring in the 43rd minute when Andy Carroll floated home a superb strike. But Swansea, without Wilfried Bony in their line-up with their top scorer away on international duty in the African Nations Cup, grabbed a deserved point when pressure saw Mark Noble net an own goal 16 minutes from time.