Strugglers Blackburn and Crystal Palace did their chances of avoiding the drop no harm at all today with wins over Charlton and Aston Villa respectively.
Blackburn 1 Charlton 0
Brett Emerton scored the all-important goal that gave struggling Blackburn Rovers a vital win over Charlton at Ewood Park.
Barry Ferguson and David Thompson combined to leave Emerton with a simple nod-in at the far post four minutes before half-time.
Brad Freidel pulled off a great save from Jonatan Johansson just before the interval and Rovers had to hang on in the second half as Alan Curbishley's men pressed hard for an equaliser.
However, Rovers survived to put six points between them and the relegation zone.
Emerton headed over from a Lucas Neill cross 10 minutes from time and Paul Dickov drove wide two minutes later before Rovers brought on Paul Gallagher in place of Jonathan Stead.
Rovers began to look nervous and Charlton began to pile on the pressure, peppering the home penalty area with crosses and forcing a succession of corners.
Blackburn's defence held firm though, with Dominic Matteo making a succession of crucial clearances to keep the Addicks at bay.
Irish international Steven Reid came on late on for the hosts, replacing Thompson with three minutes remaining as Charlton's hopes of salvaging a point fizzled out.
Crystal Palace 2 Aston Villa 0
Crystal Palace hauled themselves out of the bottom three after Andy Johnson netted a brace of goals to sink Aston Villa.
The 23-year-old scored in each half - latching onto a Thomas Sorensen fumble for the first and lashing home a penalty for the second - his side's first goals at home for four games.
Wayne Routledge also impressed for Iain Dowie's side as they ran out deserved winners at Selhurst Park.
After losing out to Everton for transfer-target James Beattie, Villa boss David O'Leary's lack of striker options were evident, with no clear-cut chances created.
Luke Moore was dropped to the bench, denied the chance to become Villa's first striker to score a goal since the start of November, and lone-striker Juan Pablo Angel was often isolated.
Palace began confidently and had a strong penalty shout early on when winger Routledge collected the ball on the left. The youngster appeared to be tripped by Mark Delaney but referee Andy D'Urso waved play on.
Johnson opened the scoring in the 33rd minute after Sorensen failed to deal with Ben Watson's low right-footed drive from 25 yards. The in-form Palace striker was on hand to smash the rebound into the top corner.
The Eagles could have added more before the break, Johnson denied another goal when he finished well but the ball had gone out of play from a corner.
After 62 minutes Johnson showed the creative side to his game as he held the ball up well and crossed for Watson, who steadied himself before firing a volley wide of the upright from 15 yards.
Three minutes later Routledge, now on the left, dazzled Jlloyd Samuel with his trickery before crossing to Vassilis Lakis who was tripped by Delaney.
D'Urso pointed to the penalty spot and Johnson scored with confidence to make it 2-0, despite Sorensen guessing the correct way.
Villa could have responded immediately but Davis' volley was straight at Gabor Kiraly. After the Hungarian keeper claimed a cross there was a melee in the penalty box as the game approached the final stages.
Johnson could have added a third but fired straight at Sorensen from long-distance late on - but he had already inflicted the damage.
