Tottenham Hotspur moved back into fourth place in the Premier League after beating Everton 2-1 at White Hart Lane.

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Roman Pavlyuchenko continued to confound manager Harry Redknapp by scoring his sixth goal in his last four games, before Luka Modric capped off an all-Croatian move with a wonderful finish to double Spurs' lead. Yakubu Aiyegbeni pulled a goal back for Everton, but Spurs held on to retake the initiative in the race for the much-coveted final Champions League spot.

After finding himself marginalised for most of Harry Redknapp's tenure at Tottenham, Pavlyuchenko has made the most of his recent return to first-team action, and continued his impressive scoring run when he scored the opener on 11 minutes. Jermain Defoe brought a long clearance under control and, with Johnny Heitinga backing away, the England striker fired a low ball across the face of goal and the Russian striker slid in finish from close range.

Everton started with Yakubu up front due to a hamstring injury to Louis Saha, and they frequently struggled to find an attacking outlet to relieve the pressure from the home side.

Their cause was almost aided by Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who turned back the clock to his early Spurs days by dropping a corner under no real pressure. The ball fell right at the feet of Yakubu, but the Nigerian's instinctive toe-poke was blocked and Spurs scrambled the ball clear.

Spurs doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark with a well-constructed and emphatically-executed goal.

The Croatian trio of Niko Kranjcar, Vedran Corluka and Modric exchanged a dozen passes between them as they worked an opening on the right wing. Eventually Modric made his way into the box and struck a swerving shot that dipped over Tim Howard and crashed in off the underside of the bar.

After a mostly off-colour first-half performance, Everton showed they still carried a threat as Jack Rodwell headed wide in the run-up to half-time, and they came out after the break in more determined fashion.

After a break in play early on as Tom Huddlestone was stretchered off with a sprained ankle, Everton got their reward 10 minutes into the half. Rodwell headed a corner back across the face of goal, Gomes could not get past Victor Anichebe and Yakubu could not miss from two yards out.

Both managers made their full complement of substitutions, with defender Phil Jagielka making his Premier League return after almost a year out through injury and Landon Donovan also coming on for the Toffees.

As the game began to open up, with both sides desperate for the points, chances came for both sides. Jagielka lost his marker at a corner but headed wide, Steven Pienaar forced a good save from Gomes after intercepting a loose ball, but Donovan spurned the best chance for the visitors to snatch a point when he hit Rodwell's cross into the side netting from close range.

Kranjcar and Corluka both had chances to extend Spurs' lead, but were denied by Howard and, after six frantic minutes of injury time, Tottenham held on for a precious win that moves their dreams of Champions League football a little closer to becoming reailty.