CHRISTIAN ERICKSEN STRUCK late on as Tottenham maintained their bid for a Champions League berth with victory over Sunderland.
Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring inside three minutes as his deflected effort beat Costel Pantillimon before the former Manchester City goalkeeper denied Eriksen from long-range.
The visitors equalised before the break as Sebastian Larsson curled home a free-kick from 25 yards, though Spurs almost took a lead into half-time as Harry Kane hit the post.
The Black Cats defended well for the majority of the second half, but were undone with three minutes to play as Eriksen’s strike from distance bobbled in.
Leicester City remain rooted at the foot of the Premier League as their recent revival ended with a 1-0 defeat at home to Stoke City on Saturday.
Bojan Krkic scored the only goal of the game in the 63rd minute, following a period of pressure from Mark Hughes’ men, who in truth spent the large part of the game on the back foot.
Leicester had the better of the first-half, but Stoke emerged after the break with added belief and adventure about their play in the second half and got their reward in the form of a fourth away league win of the season.
Nigel Pearson named Leicester’s record signing Andrej Kramaric among his substitutes, following the completion of the Croatian’s move from HNK Rijeka.
The striker was waiting to come on when the crucial goal was scored, and he could not prevent Leicester slipping to a first defeat in five, which leaves them three points from safety.
Meanwhile, Dwight Gayle and Jason Puncheon were on the scoresheet again as Crystal Palace fought back from two down to defeat Burnley 3-2 in the Premier League.
The pair both netted when Palace came from behind to defeat Tottenham 2-1 last weekend, and Gayle’s brace either side of Puncheon’s strike saw Alan Pardew’s side mount a stirring comeback.
Ben Mee’s header – only the defender’s second senior goal - put Burnley ahead inside the opening quarter of an hour, and then Danny Ings struck his seventh goal of the campaign after being set up by Scott Arfield.
The nature of that second goal left Pardew aggrieved as he felt Arfield had fouled Joel Ward in the build-up, but referee Phil Dowd saw nothing wrong as Burnley took a commanding lead.
Palace improved from that point on, however, and pulled one back just before the half-hour through Gayle’s powerful shot.
Early in the second half, Puncheon, who netted the winner against Spurs, struck from distance to equalise before setting up Gayle three minutes from time for the striker to net a dramatic winner and cap a remarkable turnaround.
It was the second time in four days that Burnley had squandered a two-goal lead, after losing 4-2 to Spurs in the FA Cup third-round replay in midweek, and the defeat leaves Sean Dyche’s side a point above the bottom three, while Palace climb to 12th.
Best of luck to him
I’ll cheer him on from my couch.
hope all goes well for him,a good support crew is a must on this race.I don’t think I’d fancy starting a 220kms race from death valley.
And I thought my 8 full marathons was something to be proud of…………….back to the drawing board!
I admire your modesty!
Not just 8 marathons, but 8 ‘full’ ones.
That was before they became Snickers. On July the 19th.
Good documentary on YouTube about the badwater marathon. Running for 25 hours straight with one 20 minute “rest”. They have to run on the painted part of the road during the day as there shoes will melt on the Tarmac. Nuts!
Pff, I’ve seen tougher.
Seen from the comfort of your own living room no doubt
Clearly humour is lost on you, Alan! Despite your possibly veiled attempt.
Wish I’d listened to my body this morning when I went out for a run.. after a long one yesterday too, my legs are banjaxed. Best of Luck tonight.. I’ve stared at Mt Whitney from a distance, wouldn’t fancy running up it!
Atta boy Mully, best of luck kid!
Best of luck
Joggers are a pain in the hole.
The extreme version mus be coming soon -three in a row