London:
Martin Petrov's equalizer captured a 1-1 draw for 10-man Manchester City at Wigan on Sunday while Blackburn came from a goal behind to beat neighbor Burnley 3-2.
City had a chance to go third with a game in hand on the teams above in the Premier League standings by winning by two clear goals. But it had to come from behind to take a point and stay in fifth, five points behind leader Manchester United and four behind Chelsea. Wigan dropped a place to 13th.
Despite seeing his side drop two points, City manager Mark Hughes showed he now has strength in depth to deal with injuries to key players, such as strikers Robinho and Craig Bellamy and defender Kolo Toure.
"That's what we had to address in the closed season," said Hughes, whose club's wealthy owner, Sheik Mansour, has helped him strengthen the squad by spending more than 120 million pounds ($200 million; euro132 million).
"The depth of the squad in terms of numbers and quality wasn't correct and we have done really well in that regard. We have been able to bring in good quality players so that when one player has gone out of the team I can bring in quality to compensate."
After Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland had saved from Emmanuel Adebayor, the home side went ahead in first half injury time,
Charles N'Zogbia turned the ball home after Man City goalkeeper Shay Given had failed to hold a shot from Hugo Rodallega.
City drew level in the second minute of the second half, however, when Petrov fired home with a well-placed left foot shot from the edge of the area from a low cross from Carlos Tevez.
The visitor was reduced to 10 men when Argentina defender Pablo Zabaleta was sent off in the 65th minute for his second yellow card. But Mark Hughes team, still missing Robinho through injury, defended strongly in the late stages and allowed Wigan few further chances.
In Sunday's other game, Robbie Blake gave Burnley a fifth minute lead at Ewood Park in the first meeting of the northwest England rivals in a top-flight league match for 43 years.
But David Dunn equalized within four minutes, Franco Di Santo made it 2-1 in the 21st and fullback Pascal Chimbonda added the third just before half time. Although Chris Eagles scored a second for Burnley in second half injury time, Rovers held on for the three points.
Blackburn's third victory of the season gave the team 10 points from eight matches. It lifted the team to just below half way in the standings, two points behind Burnley which lost for the fifth time in nine games.
In Saturday's games, Manchester United regained top spot by beating neighbor Bolton 2-1 while Chelsea slipped to second after losing 2-1 at Aston Villa.
The big talking point, however, was Sunderland's goal in a 1-0 victory over Liverpool. Darren Bent's shot struck a beach ball which had been thrown onto the field by a Liverpool fan and was deflected past goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
Although Liverpool didn't complain, referee Mike Jones' decision to award the goal was condemned on Sunday by two former top flight refs, who said he should have disallowed it.