Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Sunderland: Spurs fail to sparkle but narrow win puts Harry Redknapp’s men third

The victory, which came a week after Spurs’ 11-match unbeaten run ended at Stoke, means they are now two points ahead of Chelsea before the two sides meet on Thursday.

Sir Alex Ferguson began the day by claiming that Harry Redknapp’s side were genuine title contenders. They looked anything but after a drab opening half. Without the injured Gareth Bale’s marauding pace down the left, Spurs struggled to penetrate, although the visitors rarely threatened either.

Tottenham’s attack was adjusted in the 26th minute when a hamstring injury to Aaron Lennon forced the winger off and Pavlyuchenko came on in his place.

Sunderland piled the pressure on and ended the first half the stronger side. Richardson’s low drive was saved well by Friedel before the ’keeper saved again from Larsson’s brilliant curling shot.

Assou-Ekotto entered the book for hacking David Vaughan down deep inside the Spurs half before Richardson also saw yellow for kicking the ball away after a foul had been given against him.

Westwood scampered across his line desperately after Van der Vaart fired at goal but the deflected effort flew inches wide.

Sunderland were still proving to be more than a match for their hosts, however, and Richardson played in Jack Colback with a clever pass but William Gallas and Sandro muscled the youngster off the ball before he could get his shot away.

Angered by their team’s poor performance, the home crowd urged their side on and they responded by taking the lead on the hour.

Van der Vaart held off his marker and laid on a delicate reverse pass for Pavlyuchenko, who paused before firing a powerful low shot past Westwood for his first league strike of the season.

Buoyed by hitting the opener, Pavlyuchenko confidently strode towards goal before Vaughan tripped him on the edge of the penalty area and the Sunderland midfielder went into the book. Van der Vaart drilled the free-kick against the wall, but he soon made amends by playing Adebayor through with a wonderful pass.

Westwood parried the striker’s effort and the ball fell to Modric, but he blazed over an open goal from eight yards – a contender for miss of the season.