English "big three" Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal were all held to draws in Premier League on Saturday.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored double, which could only hand the league leaders a 2-2 draw against Hull.
Defending champion Manchester United was held to a frustrating 0-0 draw at Tottenham to remain six points adrift of Liverpool.
Arsenal's fading title ambitions were dealt a further blow when former Gunner Jeremie Aliadiere equalized to clinch a 1-1 draw for Middlesbrough, allowing Aston Villa to dislodge them from fourth place by beating Bolton 4-2.
Hull was tipped as a candidate for relegation when it entered its debut topflight campaign, but strengthened its hold on sixth place with a point at Liverpool.
The Tigers took the lead in the 12th minute when Paul McShane leapt above Liverpool defender Andrea Dossena to head Marlon King's cross past Pepe Reina.
Veteran Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher scored his second own-goal of the season to extend Hull's advantage. Bernard Mendy had skipped around Dossena on the right and his cross landed in front of Carragher, whose attempted clearance went into his own net.
Gerrard started to haul Liverpool back into the match two minutes later. With Albert Riera applying pressure on the visiting defense, Dirk Kuyt's cross broke to Gerrard to score from close range.
In the 32nd, Kuyt headed on Carragher's cross and Yossi Benayoun volleyed down to Gerrard, who calmly slotted it high into the net.
Arsenal also dropped two points at Middlesbrough, as Aliadiere's glancing header in the 29th canceled out Emanuel Adebayor's opening goal for the Gunners 12 minutes earlier.
From a corner, captain Cesc Fabregas picked out the unmarked Adebayor to head down into the net from six meters.
Sunderland climbed out of the relegation zone with a 4-0 victory over bottom-place West Bromwich Albion.
Stand-in striker Tim Cahill scored in injury time to give Everton a 1-0 victory at Manchester City. Stoke and Fulham played out a 0-0 draw.
(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2008)
