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| April 9, 2006 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1427 |
Europe boost for Spurs
LONDON, April 8: Tottenham Hotspur boosted their bid for Champions League next season with a 2-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday as rivals Blackburn saw their push for fourth place stalled by Portsmouth's battle for Premiership survival. Goals from Paul Stalteri and England midfielder Michael Carrick either side of half-time allowed Spurs to pull four points clear of Blackburn, who were held to a 2-2 draw at Portsmouth.
Arsenal, a point further back, have two games in hand but face a daunting trip to Manchester United on Sunday.
Greek striker Georgios Samaras gave Manchester City hope of a point at White Hart Lane with a close-range volley three minutes after Carrick's strike.
But the visitors were unable to claim an equaliser and needed a string of top-quality saves from David James to prevent Spurs from adding to their score. It was a fifth consecutive defeat for City, who now look destined to end the season in the bottom half of the table.
Craig Bellamy twice put Blackburn ahead at Fratton Park. But Portsmouth, who had won their three previous matches, extended their unbeaten run thanks to equalisers from Lomana LuaLua and Svetoslav Todorov.
The point was not quite enough to lift Pompey out of the drop zone but they are now level on points with Birmingham.
If Spurs can go on to clinch fourth place in the Premiership they will go into the final qualifying round for next season's Champions League, unless Arsenal go on to win the Champions League.
In that case, Arsenal would go directly into the group stages of Europe's elite competition, along with the two top sides in the Premiership and only the third-placed side would go into the final qualifier.
Sunderland's match with Fulham was abandoned after 21 minutes because of a blizzard.
The visitors were leading 1-0 through Brian McBride's ninth-minute strike when referee Mike Riley judged the conditions too dangerous to carry on.
A defeat for Sunderland would have confirmed their relegation from the top flight.
Charlton and Everton fought out a dour goalless draw at The Valley in which the home side appeared most concerned with conserving energy for Wednesday's FA Cup quarterfinal replay at Middlesbrough.—Agencies
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