Arsenal shrug off Vermaelen red card to overcome Hammers

Published on Saturday 20 March 2010 22:03

ARSENAL overcame Thomas Vermaelen's sending off to battle back to the top of the Barclays Premier League with a 2-0 win over struggling West Ham .

Denilson fired the Gunners in front after only five minutes as Arsene Wenger's men looked to leapfrog Manchester United and Chelsea, who do not play until tomorrow.

However, centre-half Vermaelen was deemed to have been the last man when he pulled down Guillermo Franco, and was shown a straight red card, but Manuel Almunia saved Alessandro Diamanti's penalty and captain Cesc Fabregas made it 2-0 with nine minutes left from the same spot following a handball by Matthew Upson.

Tottenham boosted their chances of playing Champions League football next season, moving four points clear in the chase for fourth place in the Barclays Premier League with a 2-1 win at Stoke.

Icelandic substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen put Spurs ahead just 18 seconds into the second half when he nipped onto the end of a delightful chip from Peter Crouch to fire home a left-foot shot.

And things got worse for the home side four minutes later when Dean Whitehead was sent off for his second bookable offence after clattering Luka Modric in the centre circle.

But they drew level when Benoit Assou-Ekotto was adjudged to have fouled Dave Kitson in the box and Matthew Etherington sent Heurelho Gomes the wrong way from the penalty spot. Assou-Ekotto redeemed himself, though, when he crossed for Niko Kranjcar to net the winner with 13 minutes remaining.

That saw Spurs capitalise on Aston Villa's draw against Wolves – a result which could have been even worse for Martin O'Neill's men.

Wolves had looked set for their first win over their local rivals for 30 years, Jody Craddock and James Milner's own goal putting them in front after John Carew's opener. But Carew followed up with his 13th goal of the campaign with only seven minutes remaining to make the final score 2-2.

Hull slipped closer to relegation after a late capitulation at rock-bottom Portsmouth. Craig Fagan's strike was deflected into the net by Caleb Folan to give Hull the lead in the 27th minute.

But Pompey were level ten minutes later as Jamie O'Hara's cross bounced into the path of Tommy Smith, who back-heeled past Boaz Myhill.

Folan restored the Tigers' lead, beating the offside trap and finishing well past David James.

But O'Hara levelled two minutes from time and Richard Garcia's howler saw Nadir Belhadj tee up Kanu to seal a dramatic 3-2 win.

Hugo Rodallega's injury-time header saw Wigan boost their own survival hopes with a deserved 1-0 win over Burnley.

There was a delay early in the second period when Latics keeper Chris Kirkland appeared to be struck by an object thrown from the crowd.

Darren Bent's early brace set Sunderland on their way to a 3-1 win over Birmingham.

Cameron Jerome ran on to Michel's superbly weighted through-ball to halve the deficit with a neat curling finish but Fraizer Campbell grabbed a late clincher for the Black Cats.

Everton eased to a 2-0 win over Bolton at Goodison Park.

Wanderers were reduced to ten men when last man Gretar Steinsson bundled over Yakubu as he raced clear and Mikel Arteta stepped up to double the punishment by curling a superb free-kick over the wall. Steven Pienaar slammed in a late second.