Arsenal stunned by late equaliser

LONDON (AP):

Arsenal conceded an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time to draw 1-1 at Sunderland, while Tottenham scored three times in the last 15 minutes to beat Wolverhampton 3-1 in the English Premier League yesterday.

Second-place Arsenal led through 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 half-time through Steven Fletcher's goal, but Rafael van der Vaart equalised from the penalty spot in the 75th and Roman Pavlyuchenko and Alan Hutton completed the comeback.

West Ham, which had lost four straight matches, were held to 1-1 by Stoke, while Everton are also still searching for their first win after being beaten 1-0 by Newcastle. Clint Dempsey rescued a 1-1 draw for Fulham at Blackburn, Aston Villa were held at home by Bolton by the same score and West Bromwich beat local rival Birmingham 3-1.

Chelsea, which host Blackpool today, hold a one-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the standings.

Arsenal led after 13 minutes at Sunderland when Fabregas charged down Anton Ferdinand's clearance 35 yards from goal and the ball ricocheted over stranded goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and into the net.

Arsenal were 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 crossbar 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.