Manchester City lost the chance to move to within two points of leaders Manchester United after the English Premier League champions were held to a 0-0 draw by a brave Queens Park Rangers side.
City were five points behind United going into Tuesday's game, but thanks to some heroics from QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar, Roberto Mancini's men could only reduce the gap at the top to four points, while QPR remained rock bottom, three behind 19th placed Reading.
United can now increase their lead to seven points when they take on Southampton in Wednesday's fixture.
Former Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar was in fine form, stopping goalbound efforts from Gareth Barry and David Silva in brilliant fashion, while Pablo Zabaleta was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet for the second straight game, striking the woodwork.
"We lost two points, this is sure," Mancini said. "But the season is long and I think I can say nothing because we played well, we had the chances but didn't score -- that is all it is.
"We are disappointed with this result because we had a lot of chances to win, we dominated this game but when you play like this and don't score quickly it can be difficult.
"QPR defended very well and got players behind the ball and Julio Cesar was incredible tonight."
In other games, Newcastle got a big fillip in their quest for survival by scoring a vital 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Papiss Cisse and Yohan Cabaye scored first half goals for the Magpies at Villa Park, before the home side made a gameful comeback, with Christian Benteke reducing the deficit early on in the second half.
However, Newcastle held on for the three points and climbed up to 15th in the table on 24 points from 24 matches, while Villa, who have 20 points, dropped to the bottom three.
Swansea and Sunderland played out a 0-0 draw, while Wigan came back from two goals down to hold Stoke 2-2, a point which moved the Latics out of the relegation zone.
Results: Aston Villa 1-2 Newcastle; QPR 0-0 Manchester City; Sunderland 0-0 Swansea; Stoke 2-2 Wigan.
