TOTTENHAM Hotspur’s hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League suffered a dent as Southampton earned a last-gasp 3-3 home draw with a James Ward-Prowse penalty that would have been cheered in Newcastle yesterday.
Antonio Conte’s side looked set to move into third place as goals by Harry Kane and Ivan Perisic put them 3-1 ahead with around 15 minutes of normal time left on the clock.
But bottom club Southampton battled back to salvage a point in their quest to beat the drop.
A big day at the foot of the table saw Leeds United move out of the relegation zone with a 4-2 victoty at fellow-strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers while second-from-bottom Bournemouth came down to earth after last week’s defeat of Liverpool as they went down 3-0 at Aston Villa.
Leicester City snapped a run of four consecutive league defeats to draw 1-1 at Brentford.
An 89th-minute strike from substitute Ellis Simms, his first Premier League goal for the club, earned relegation-threatened Everton a point at Chelsea in a lively 2-2 draw.
Chelsea, who were feeling confident on the back of two wins in the Premier League and a Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund, looked to have secured all three points until Simms muscled past Kalidou Koulibaly and kept his cool with a shot that Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga got his hand to but could not stop.
Fourth-placed Tottenham have 49 points from 28 games with Newcastle United, who benefitted from a stoppage-time penalty to beat Nottingham Forest on Friday, have 47 points having played two games less.
At the bottom, Southampton have 23 points from 28 games. Bournemouth on 24 from 27 along with West Ham United who dropped into the relegation zone courtesy of Leeds United’s impressive win at Wolves. Everton are on 26 points, while Leicester have 25.