Manchester City fought back from 3-1 down to score twice in a minute as they drew 3-3 with Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium and managed to keep their title bid alive.

Sebastian Larsson opened the scoring for the visitors after half an hour after receiving the ball from Stephane Sessegnon on the edge of the area, picking his spot and curling the ball into the bottom right corner, the Press Association reported.

Phil Dowd awarded a contentious penalty three minutes before the break when Craig Gardner was adjudged to have floored Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli made no mistake from the spot.

Three minutes into time added on, Sessegnon swung over a cross which reached Bendtner who out-jumped Micah Richards and headed back across Joe Hart.

Sunderland made it 3-1 from a classic counter-attack, Bendtner sliding the ball across the front of goal which Larsson swept home.

City levelled the score in the final minutes through Balotelli and Aleksandar Kolarov.

Aston Villa lost 4-2 to Chelsea in front of captain Stiliyan Petrov who announced on Friday he had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia.

Struggers QPR boosted their survival hopes with a shock 2-1 victory over in-form Arsenal at Loftus Road.

It was the struggling hosts who went ahead in the 22nd minute when Adel Taarabt easily shrugged off Thomas Vermaelen's attentions before unleashing a fierce shot at the edge of the area.

The Gunners levelled 15 minutes later through Theo Walcott whose initial shot came back off the post directly into his path and he slotted home.

QPR restored their lead 20 minutes into the second half. Vermaelen slipped and was easily bypassed by Jamie Mackie. The midfielder calmly pulled the ball back for Samba Diakite who sidefooted home.

Wolves are rooted to the bottom of the table following a 3-2 home loss against Bolton.

Wigan got just a second home win of the season as they beat Stoke 2-0.

Elsewhere Everton beat West Brom 2-0 at Goodison Park and Fulham took a 2-1 win over Norwich.