London, Nov 24: Spurs beat Aston Villa. In-form Irish striker Robbie Keane scored the winner as Tottenham Hotspur recovered from a goal down with 12 minutes left to beat Aston Villa 2-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Keane, who scored twice in Ireland's 3-0 friendly win over Canada on Tuesday, beat his marker and fired low into the net after 81 minutes to extend Villa's stay in the English premier league relegation zone. Swedish striker Marcus Allback gave Villa the lead with a header after 66 minutes. But 20-year-old Rohan Ricketts levelled for Spurs in the 78th-minute with a raking drive on a sodden White Hart Lane surface and Keane completed the job. Spurs defender Mauricio Taricco provided the best moment of a dull first half when he cut in and let fly with a beautiful long-range shot which Denmark's Thomas Sorensen did well to turn round the post. Their other full-back Stephen Carr could have handed it back to Villa at the end when he nearly helped a cross into his own net, but Kasey Keller made the save. The defeat meant Villa remained 18th in the 20-team league on 11 points. Spurs jumped four places to 12th on 15 points. P W D L F A Pts 1. Arsenal 13 10 3 0 28 10 33 2. Chelsea 13 10 2 1 27 9 32 3. Manchester United 13 10 1 2 25 8 31 4. Charlton Athletic 13 6 4 3 20 16 22 5. Birmingham City 13 5 5 3 11 11 20 6. Newcastle United 13 5 4 4 19 18 19 7. Fulham 12 5 3 4 22 18 18 8. Manchester City 13 5 3 5 22 18 18 9. Liverpool 13 5 3 5 18 14 18 10. Southampton 13 4 5 4 10 8 17 11. Portsmouth 12 4 3 5 17 16 15 12. Tottenham Hotspur 13 4 3 6 13 17 15 13. Middlesbrough 13 4 3 6 11 15 15 14. Bolton Wanderers 13 3 6 4 11 19 15 15. Everton 13 3 4 6 15 17 13 16. Leicester City 13 3 3 7 20 22 12 17. Blackburn Rovers 13 3 2 8 18 24 11 18. Aston Villa 13 2 5 6 10 17 11 19. Wolverhampton Wanderers 13 2 4 7 8 26 10 20. Leeds United 13 2 2 9 11 33 8


Bureau Report