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| May 1, 2006 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1427 |
Tottenham tighten grip on 4th place
LONDON, April 30: Tottenham Hotspur tightened their grip on fourth place in the Premier League with a 1-0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers on Sunday. Teenage winger Aaron Lennon burst into the area to thump the winner after 59 minutes, moving Tottenham on to 65 points with one game to play and within touching distance of a place in the Champions League qualifying round.
Fifth-placed Arsenal are seven points behind Spurs, although they still have three games left, starting at relegated Sunderland on Monday.
Tottenham will finish fourth if they win at West Ham United on the final day of the season next week, although should Arsenal then win their Champions League final against Barcelona Martin Jol's side would be bumped out of the competition.For a long time on Sunday it looked as though Bolton would seriously undermine Tottenham's hopes of playing in Europe's premier club competition.
They completely dominated the first half as they strove to revive their own chances of qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
Japanese midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata thumped an early effort against inside of the post after a knockdown by Jared Borgetti and Ivan Campo also shot over from close range.
Tottenham hung on until halftime and were much better after the break. Danny Murphy looped a volley narrowly over the bar and Lennon blazed over after cutting in dangerously.
The next time Lennon had a chance he made no mistake. Running on to Michael Carrick's pass inside the area, he skipped past a tackle before burying a shot inside the far post.
Bolton responded and should have been awarded a penalty when Stelios Giannakopoulos was brought down by Michael Dawson inside the area. Dawson was also lucky to escape a handball incident as Tottenham hung on grimly for the points.
The main issues in the Premier League were decided on Saturday.
Chelsea wrapped up a second successive title with a 3-0 victory over Manchester United while Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion were both relegated along with Sunderland.
Results:
Played on Sunday:
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Bolton Wanderers 0
Played on Saturday:
Birmingham City 0 Newcastle United 0
Charlton Athletic 0 Blackburn Rovers 2
Chelsea 3 Manchester United 0
Liverpool 3 Aston Villa 1
Manchester City 1 Fulham 2
Middlesbrough 0 Everton 1
Wigan Athletic 1 Portsmouth 2
Playing on Monday:
Sunderland v Arsenal (1615)
Manchester United v Middlesbrough (1900)
West Bromwich Albion v West Ham United (1900). —Reuters
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