LONDON, Jan 11: Tottenham Hotspur remained rooted in the English Premier League’s relegation zone on Sunday after Wigan Athletic scored a late goal to beat them 1-0.

The visitors appeared to have done enough to earn a valuable point but were stung in stoppage time when Maynor Figueroa headed in a Ryan Taylor corner.

Striker Jermain Defoe began his second spell at Tottenham after re-joining the London club from Portsmouth this week but had precious few chances to justify his 15 million pounds fee.

Wigan had the better of the few scoring opportunities, Amr Zaki heading narrowly wide and Emile Heskey having a close-range effort blocked by keeper Heurelho Gomes in the first half.

Gomes ended the game limping heavily but Wigan could not take advantage as the match fizzled out.

Tottenham stay in 18th place with 20 points from 21 games while Wigan are seventh with 31 points, having won six of their last seven league games.

Later on Sunday, champions Manchester United host Chelsea with both clubs hoping to take advantage of leaders Liverpool’s 0-0 draw against Stoke City on Saturday.

Chelsea will close the gap to one point with a victory while United, who have three games in hand on the clubs around them, could move to within five points of Liverpool with a win.

Results:

Played on Sunday:

Wigan Athletic 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Played on Saturday:

Arsenal 1 Bolton Wanderers 0

Aston Villa 2 West Bromwich Albion 1

Everton 2 Hull City 0

Middlesbrough 1 Sunderland 1

Newcastle United 2 West Ham United 2

Stoke City 0 Liverpool 0

—Reuters