Tottenham were leading by two goals until a late show by Everton, and Fulham's impressive home form sees off Sunderland. Tottenham looked comfortable Everton leading by two second half goals from Jermaine Defoe and Michael Dawson.

But with a little over ten minutes remaining Everton rallied and Louis Saha and Tim Cahill drew the host level.

Yet Spurs were then given a lifeline to claim all three points and move into third in the Premiership after Tony Hibbert had brought down Wilson Palacios.

Defoe's weak spot kick was saved by Tim Howard and Everton nicked a point.

Fulham are now unbeaten at Craven Cottage since September and Sunderland with their own difficulties on the road went down 1-0.

Bobby Zamora fired his club back into the top half of the table then taunted his critics with his celebration at Craven Cottage.

The 28-year-old scored only his 10th in two seasons since arriving from West Ham.

It means Fulham leapfrog over Sunderland into eighth.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson said of his match-winner: "In the first half he was magnificent, in the second half he didn't get the service but he was a constant thorn in Sunderland's side.

"We didn't get the ball up to him in the second half but I thought his performance was good throughout and he was a major factor in the victory.

"They've got some dangerous front players, but I'm happy to say we got away with it and it gives us some solid foundations going into the Christmas period. I thought the back four was superb and Chris Baird did well in front of them."

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce again made reference to the Black Cats poor form away from the Stadium of Light: "Our away form could ruin our season. I've got to do something different because away from home we are too easy to play against. By that I mean changing personnel.

"If we had started the first half like we did the second we would have got something out of the game."