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Rediff.com  » Sports » Tottenham Hotspur stun champions Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur stun champions Chelsea

November 06, 2006 10:32 IST
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Tottenham Hotspur and England winger Aaron Lennon condemned champions Chelsea to a second league defeat of the season on Sunday when Spurs won their London derby 2-1 at White Hart Lane.

Lennon rifled in on 52 minutes to secure Spurs their first win over Chelsea in 33 league meetings and their first at home over their rivals since 1987.

"It was a great win, we were stronger than them today," Spurs manager Martin Jol told Sky Sports.

"We are now in the top half of the table and nobody can take it away from us that we had a win against the champions of England."

Defeat kept Chelsea in second place on 25 points, three behind leaders Manchester United who thumped Portsmouth 3-0 on Saturday.

Chelsea led through Claude Makelele's thunderbolt from 30 metres on 15 minutes but defender Michael Dawson levelled with a glancing header 10 minutes later.

Chelsea and England captain John Terry was sent off 18 minutes from time after he was shown a second yellow by referee Graham Poll for holding.

Poll's performance left Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho fuming, the Portuguese saying the official, who booked seven other players, had "wanted to be part of the show".

"He disallowed a goal from Didier Drogba which he can only explain," said Mourinho.

"To show a red card to a player for contact in the box when he was the attacking one was also a bit ridiculous... every decision was against us."

Chelsea almost snatched a point four minutes from time but Dutch winger Arjen Robben struck the post with a curling strike.

TEMPERS FLARED

Earlier, substitute Marlon Harewood struck two minutes from time to hand West Ham United a 1-0 win over Arsenal as tempers flared at Upton Park while Aston Villa beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at home.

Harewood converted Matthew Etherington's cross to secure a second successive league win for West Ham, who moved out of the bottom three and up to 15th.

The goal prompted an unsightly shoving match on the touchline between managers Alan Pardew and Arsene Wenger with the pair needing to be separated after Wenger took exception to Pardew's exuberant celebrations.

"It was a shame, it was a tense game... I was celebrating the goal, basically, that was all and Arsene had a problem with that, probably rightly," Pardew said.

"It was nothing personal. There was nothing said. He's a top guy, I really respect him... nothing changes my opinion on that. I will apologise to him again if I need to, I was celebrating a goal, I thought I was entitled to do that."

Harewood scored 12 minutes after spurning the best chance of the game, with his shot smothered by Jens Lehmann.

Arsenal, who remain fifth, created few clear-cut openings but had strong penalty claims turned down when Jonathan Spector appeared to foul Alexander Hleb.

Arsenal's Dutch forward Robin van Persie needed brief attention after he was felled by a coin thrown from the crowd. It struck the back of his head as he waited to take a throw-in late in the first half.

It was the second such unsavoury incident in the top flight this weekend. On Saturday, Fulham's Claus Jensen was hit on the head by a coin during their 1-0 victory over Everton, leading manager Chris Coleman to call for a prison sentence for the perpetrator.

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