Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew will live to see another day after his side came from two goals down to produce a 2-2 draw with Hull City on Saturday.
The Magpies manager was under plenty of pressure ahead of the St James' Park clash with the Tigers with fans outside the stadium forming a 'Sack Pardew' protest in a bid to oust the former West Ham United and Southampton man.
68 minutes into the clash and it appeared as though Pardew may have met his demise in the north east but the 53-year old can thanks Papiss Cisse who bobbed up with a late double to force a draw.
Nikica Jelavic had opened the scoring three minutes into the second half with a stunning side volley before summer signing Mo Diame, who netted in Monday night's 2-2 draw with the Hammers, produced a thunderous strike from range to place Steve Bruce's side well and truly in the drivers' seat with just over 20 minutes remaining.
But Cisse, who had scored just one goal in his last 12 outings, gave the Toon some hope when he finished across his body in the 73rd minute before heading home Yoann Gouffran's cross with just three minutes of regular time left on the clock.
The draw temporarily lifted the winless Newcastle off the bottom of the Premier League table while Hull went ninth courtesy of their second 2-2 draw on the trot.
In the West Midlands, Arsenal brought Aston Villa's unbeaten streak to an immediate halt by winning 3-0 at Villa Park.
A spurt of three goals in three minutes gave Arsene Wenger's men maximum points for the second time this year, extending their undefeated streak in the league to five games, and 16 against Villa away.
Mesut Ozil, who starred for the north Londoners, netted in the 32nd minute when racing onto a clever through ball from Danny Welbeck before the former Manchester United forward opened his Gunners account when slotting home a pinpoint delivery from his German teammate.
Moments later, and the match was essentially wrapped up when a cross from Kieran Gibbs was turned into Villa's net by left-back Aly Cissokho allowing Arsenal to move up to fourth on the table as Paul Lambert's Villa dropped to third.
Elsewhere, QPR twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Stoke City at Loftus Road thanks to levelling goals from Steven Caulker and Niko Kranjcar after Mame Biram Diouf and then Peter Crouch had edged the Potters ahead.
Victor Wanyama came off the bench to score his first goal for Southampton as they got the better of ten-man Swansea City to make it three victories in succession.
Burnley and Sunderland played out a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor and West Ham United produced a 3-1 victory over Liverpool who slumped to their second loss in a row.
The Hammers started in a blaze of glory with Winstone Reid and new recruit Diafra Saho scoring in the opening eight minutes before Raheem Sterling fired the Reds back into the game in the 26th minute.
Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool created a number of chances in the second half but they could not breach Adrian's goal before second-half substitute Morgan Amalfitano opened his account for the east Londoners in the 88th minute to see Sam Allardyce's side move up to eighth.
Sunday's action sees Manchester United travel to Leicester City, Tottenham host West Bromwich Albion, Everton at home to Crystal Palace and league leaders Chelsea away at reigning champions Manchester City.
2014/15 Barclays Premier League - season scores
QPR: 2 (Steven Caulker 42', Niko Kranjcar 88') Stoke City: 2 (Mame Biram Diouf 11', Peter Crouch 51') Loftus Road, London - 16,163
Aston Villa: 0 Arsenal: 2 (Mesut Ozil 32', Danny Welbeck 34', Aly Cissokho (og) 36') Villa Park, Birmingham - 40,013
Newcastle United: 2 (Papiss Cisse 73'/87') Hull City: 2 (Nikica Jelavic 48', Mohamed Diame 68') St James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 49,119
Burnley: 0 Sunderland: 0 Turf Moor, Burnley - 20,026
Swansea City: 0 (red card: Wilfried Bony 39') Southampton: 1 (Victor Wanyama 80') Liberty Stadium, Swansea - 20,596
West Ham United: 3 (Winston Reid 2', Diafra Sakho 7', Morgan Amalfitano 88') Liverpool: 1 (Raheem Sterling 26') Upton Park, London - 34,977
