THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Arsenal surrendered a goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time for a 1-1 tie at Sunderland while Tottenham scored three times in the last 15 minutes to beat Wolverhampton 3-1 in the English Premier League on Saturday.
Second-place Arsenal led on Cesc Fabregas’ freak goal, but Alex Song was sent off in the second half and Tomas Rosicky missed a penalty before Darren Bent struck late for Sunderland.
Spurs fell behind on the stroke of halftime through Steven Fletcher’s goal, but Rafael van der Vaart tied it from the penalty spot in the 75th. Roman Pavlyuchenko and Alan Hutton completed the comeback.
West Ham, which had lost four straight matches, was held to 1-1 by Stoke, while Everton is also still searching for its first win after being beaten 1-0 by Newcastle.
Clint Dempsey scored to earn Fulham a 1-1 tie at Blackburn, Aston Villa was held at home by Bolton by the same score while West Bromwich beat local rival Birmingham 3-1.
Saturday’s match highlights: Sunderland v Arsenal | Everton v Newcastle | Tottenham v Wolves | Aston Villa v Bolton | West Brom v Birmingham | Blackburn v Fulham
Chelsea, which hosts Blackpool on Sunday, has a one-point lead over Arsenal atop the standings.
Arsenal led after 13 minutes at Sunderland when Fabregas charged down Anton Ferdinand’s clearance 35 yards from goal and the ball bounced over stranded goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and into the net.
Arsenal was reduced to 10 men in the 55th when Alex Song was booked for the second time for a foul on Steed Malbranque.
Fabregas was forced off with a hamstring injury in the 29th and replacement Rosicky sent a penalty high over the cross bar in the 74th after Samir Nasri was fouled by Ahmed Elmohamady.
Bent forced the ball into the net in a goalmouth scramble after Gael Clichy and Laurent Koscielny failed to clear.
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was angry that the match was still continuing after the four minutes of injury time initially announced had already elapsed.
"Nothing happened in those four minutes to justify them adding more," Wenger said.
Tottenham looked to be experiencing a European hangover when Fletcher slammed in Kevin Foley’s low cross from close range for Wolves.
Three days after Spurs made their Champions League debut, they struggled to break through the Wolves defence until Alan Hutton’s run into the penalty area was halted by Stephen Ward’s mistimed diving challenge. Van der Vaart, the deadline-day signing from Real Madrid last month, scored from the penalty spot.
Van der Vaart was replaced for the final four minutes by Aaron Lennon, who set up Tottenham’s second.
Lennon’s cross was only partially cleared and played back to Tom Huddlestone, whose shot was blocked straight to Pavyluchenko for the simplest of finishes.
A mix-up between defender Richard Stearman and American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann allowed Hutton to pounce and force the ball in for Spurs’ third goal.
West Brom also came from a goal down to beat Birmingham, which announced before the match that manager Alex McLeish had signed a new three-year contract which keeps him at the club until 2013.
Birmingham took the lead when Cameron Jerome scored his first goal of the season in the 15th by volleying home from Scott Dann’s header.
But promoted West Brom dominated after the interval, drawing even in the 51st when Dann scored an own goal while under pressure from striker Peter Odemwingie as Jerome Thomas’ cross came in.
Odemwingie exploited a mistake from Lee Bowyer to put West Brom ahead in the 59th and Jonas Olsson headed in Chris Brunt’s inswinging corner 10 minutes later.
At Stoke, Scott Parker’s close-range finish put bottom-place West Ham ahead after 32 minutes, but Kenwyne Jones headed in the tying goal to start the second half.
New Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier watched from the stands as Villa was held by Bolton.
England winger Ashley Young gave Villa the lead with a free kick after 13 minutes Saturday, but Bolton tied it 10 minutes before halftime with a close-range goal from striker Kevin Davies.
Fulham remain unbeaten in the Premier League after Clint Dempsey headed in Carlos Salcido’s cross in the 56th after Christopher Samba’s first-half goal for Blackburn, which took advantage of sloppy defending.
Hatem Ben Arfa marked his full debut for Newcastle by scoring the winner against Everton to seal his new club’s first away win of the season.
Ben Arfa sent a hard shot into the top corner from 25 yards just before halftime as Everton’s poor start to the season continued.