Premier League round-up: Peter Crouch goes from villain to hero with vital brace

Published on 08/04/2011 12:40

Harry Redknapp's decision to keep faith with Peter Crouch paid off as the striker scored twice to give Tottenham their first victory in almost two months as Stoke were beaten 3-2 at White Hart Lane.

Despite his costly dismissal against Real Madrid, the England striker started and took only ten minutes to open the scoring with a header before Luka Modric made it 2-0.

Crouch added his second after Matthew Etherington had pulled one back for Stoke but Kenwyne Jones smashed one in off the bar to make it 3-2 just before the break as Spurs were made to hold on for the narrow win.

Florent Malouda sealed an ugly 1-0 win for Chelsea over Wigan at Stamford Bridge. Malouda drove home through a crowd of players with 23 minutes left to ensure the stuttering champions moved back to third place, two points clear of Manchester City.

Daniel Sturridge grabbed a fine brace at the Reebok Stadium to keep West Ham deep in relegation trouble as Bolton cruised to a 3-0 win, with Lee Chung-yong also on target.

Everton maintained their late-season push for Europe as three first-half goals added to Wolves' worries at Molineux. Goals from Jermaine Beckford, skipper Phil Neville - his first league goal for three years - and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov ended the game before the interval.

Paul Scharner dumped Sunderland deep into relegation trouble as West Brom gave their own survival hopes a massive boost with a 3-2 win at the Stadium of Light.

The Austrian fired home a 72nd-minute winner. The home side had taken a tenth-minute lead through Nicky Shorey's own goal but the impressive Peter Odemwingie levelled within 19 minutes.

Phil Bardsley's 31st-minute piledriver restored the Black Cats' advantage, but Youssouf Mulumbu finished off a fine 54th-minute move to set the stage for Scharner to snatch victory.

Blackburn came back from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Birmingham at Ewood Park.

Lee Bowyer put Birmingham ahead with a header from Cameron Jerome's dinked pass across the face of goal. But Junior Hoilett equalised in first-half injury time.