October 20, 2003	Monday	Sha'aban 23, 1424

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LONDON, Oct 19: Tottenham Hotspur stole a barely deserved 2-1 victory at bottom club Leicester City on Sunday to continue their improved run under caretaker-manager David Pleat.

A 79th-minute goal by South African substitute Mbulelo Mabizela on his debut and a last-minute winner from Frederic Kanoute turned the match on its head after a Kasey Keller blunder allowed Paul Dickov to give Leicester a first-half lead.

The win meant Spurs jumped to 11th in the English premier league table on 11 points, while Leicester remained a point adrift at the bottom on five points.

In Sunday’s early game Birmingham City and Aston Villa played out a goalless draw in the midlands derby at St Andrews.

The point meant Birmingham went fourth in the table on 16 points, four adrift of third-placed Chelsea who were beaten 2-1 by leaders Arsenal (23) on Saturday.

Second-placed champions Manchester United (22) won 1-0 at Leeds on Saturday.

Mabizela had only just come on as a substitute when he hammered a 20-metre shot high into the roof of the net at the Walkers Stadium.

Spurs had trailed to a 38th-minute goal by an offside-looking Dickov after their American goalkeeper Keller had embarrassingly allowed the Leicester striker’s weak shot to pass through his legs.

Kanoute converted the winner after a fine shot by another Spurs substitute, Stephane Dalmat, came back off the post but Leicester will be kicking themselves after dominating the game.

Kanoute was stretchered off with an ankle injury almost immediately after the goal.

Spurs have now won three games and drawn one since David Pleat took over as caretaker manager from Glenn Hoddle, who was sacked last month.

Stephen Clemence went close for City early on but the home side were lucky not to have midfielder Robbie Savage sent off for a two-footed challenge in the second half.

Results:

Birmingham 0 Aston Villa 0

Leicester 1 Tottenham 2

Playing later

Everton v Southampton (1505 GMT)

Played Saturday

Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1

Fulham 0 Wolverhampton 0

Leeds 0 Man Utd 1

Man City 6 Bolton 2

Middlesbrough 0 Newcastle 1

Portsmouth 1 Liverpool 0

Playing Monday

Blackburn v Charlton (1900 GMT).—Reuters