Southampton were left in the Premier League's bottom three after losing an early lead to draw 1-1 at home to fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Despite having gone 10 league games without a win and losing 5-2 at Spurs four weeks ago, Southampton started brightly and deservedly went ahead after quarter of an hour.
Ryan Bertrand overlapped powerfully down the left and from his low cross Tottenham's Colombian defender Davinson Sanchez diverted the ball past his goalkeeper Michel Vorm, who was deputising for Hugo Lloris.
It took Harry Kane barely three minutes to equalise, rising to head in a corner by Ben Davies and register his 99th Premier League goal.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Sunday's match
Southampton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Saturday's results
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-4 Chelsea
Arsenal 4-1 Crystal Palace
Burnley 0-1 Manchester United
Everton 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
Leicester City 2-0 Watford
Stoke City 2-0 Huddersfield Town
West Ham United 1-1 AFC Bournemouth
Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle United
The top story of a busy weekend in the Premier League came Saturday from Manchester.
Pep Guardiola hailed his side's mental strength as Sergio Aguero's expert hat-trick helped Manchester City beat Newcastle United 3-1 in a win that restored their 12-point lead at the top of the standings.
After losing 4-3 against Liverpool the previous weekend, this Etihad Stadium contest was always likely to ask questions of City's squad and their ability to return to winning ways after the Anfield defeat ended their remarkable unbeaten start to the season.
Yet any fears City fans might have had about the desire of Guardiola's squad to win the title were put to bed on Saturday after the brilliant Aguero bagged the match ball from a fixture where City ran Newcastle ragged.
Guardiola was especially pleased with the way his team managed to recover from their stumble on Merseyside.
"The players reacted really well with huge personality," the City manager said.
"We created chances, we scored goals and we conceded few chances and we avoided two bad results in a row. I don't know what is going to happen [in the rest of the season] but I don't have to be convinced of the incredible players we have."
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach added: "When we lost 4-3 against Liverpool, we congratulated Juergen Klopp and his team and moved forward.
"Always after the defeat against Liverpool, you have a little bit of doubt about how you would react. We need mathematically 10 victories to be champions. We are going to try game by game."
City were completely dominant for vast swathes of Saturday's match as Aguero headed home Kevin De Bruyne's brilliant cross after 34 minutes before doubling City's lead from the penalty spot on 63 minutes following a foul on Raheem Sterling.
But when Jacob Murphy took advantage of a dozing City defence to pull a goal back on 67 minutes, clipping past Ederson, the game did come alive and the visitors briefly threatened to take an unexpected point.
However, City were able to breathe easy with seven minutes remaining when the thrilling Leroy Sane waltzed around and through Newcastle's defence before laying off to Aguero who swept home his third goal.
"I'm so happy for him [Aguero]," said an elated Guardiola. "Before the first goal he did not touch the ball and then first touch, goal. He has a special gift. He was aggressive. We need the guy to score the goals and I'm so happy for him."
Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez said: "I think that we wanted to stay in the game and we did it, the penalty was a bit soft and it changed everything. After we scored, we had a couple of chances.
"I have been praising the players the whole season in terms of effort, sometimes it's a bit of luck."
Sanchez saga nears end
Jose Mourinho is confident his protracted pursuit of Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez is nearing a conclusion at long last.
The Manchester United manager, speaking after his side's 1-0 victory at Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday, conceded that the negotiations, which are expected to end with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving in the opposite direction, were at a delicate stage.
But, in common with Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger, Mourinho was optimistic the two-way transfer was either on the verge of completion or collapse, with a decision fast-approaching.
"I expect soon or never," said Mourinho. "I think it is so close, so close, so close that if it doesn't happen it's not going to happen.
"So I am positive, I know my people are doing everything they can — the owners with the green light, Mr Woodward working hard with Matt Judge and everybody is giving everything they can and I think they are going to be successful."
After Mourinho saw a goal from Anthony Martial defeat Burnley at Turf Moor, the Portuguese boss admitted that the addition of Sanchez, and the extra competition he will offer in the forward positions, will be welcome.
"In this moment there is no competition for places, we have four attacking players for three positions, three are starting, one is on the bench," said Mourinho.
"Zlatan [Ibrahimovic] for the whole season was not available and we look to the attacking areas and we need that extra competitive internal competition."