Roman Pavlyuchenko came off the bench late on to score two goals, his first league strikes since April, but Wigan will feel hard done by after Jermain Defoe opened the scoring for Spurs in the first half with a tap-in which television replays proved was offside.

It was Defoe's sixth goal against Wigan this season after scoring five in Tottenham's 9-1 victory at White Hart Lane.

Manchester City are now locked on 46 points with Tottenham after Roberto Mancini's side fought out a sterile goalless draw with Liverpool at Eastlands.

Fernando Torres made a surprise return for Liverpool as a second-half substitute but he could not break the deadlock.

It was Torres's first Premier League action since undergoing an operation after sustaining a knee injury in the FA Cup fourth-round defeat at home to Reading on January 13.

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina's smart save to deny Emmanuel Adebayor represented the most significant moment of a boring encounter.

Stewart Downing scored two goals in a match for the first time in the Premier League as Aston Villa beat Burnley 5-2.

Burnley took the lead through Steven Fletcher, but Ashley Young equalised, then Downing grabbed his pair and Emile Heskey and Gabriel Agbonlahor also scored before Martin Paterson's injury-time consolation.

The defeat leaves Burnley second from bottom.

Blackburn Rovers eased clear of danger but kept Bolton rooted in the relegation zone with a 3-0 victory at Ewood Park.

Nikola Kalinic gave Rovers the lead and substitute Jason Roberts and defender Gael Givet struck in the second half.

A goal from Bobby Zamora in the 90th minute gave Fulham a 2-1 victory against Birmingham.

Birmingham raced ahead in the third minute thanks to an inexplicable own goal from Chris Baird, playing out of position at right back and who, despite being under little pressure, headed home a Lee Bowyer cross.

Fulham controlled much of the match but had to wait until the hour mark for their equaliser when Damien Duff powered home his ninth goal of the season from the edge of the area.