Premier League - Spurs put West Brom on brink

Eurosport - Sun, 03 May 05:52:00 2009

West Brom's hopes of Premier League survival were almost completely wiped out following a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur courtesy of a goal from Jermaine Jenas.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League - Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jermaine Jenas celebrates his goal against West Brom - 0

The defeat at White Hart Lane now leaves them six points from safety, with fellow strugglers Newcastle United and Hull City both yet to play this weekend.

Jenas's goal puts Spurs level on points with Fulham and Manchester City, who are all now chasing seventh-placed West Ham for that final Europa League place. The Hammers are one point ahead all three clubs with 48.

After a slow start by the home side a five-minute barrage on the West Brom goal was rewarded when Vedran Corluka found Jenas in enough space to side foot a low curling shot past Scott Carson for his fourth goal of the season.

Just prior to that goal, Luka Modric and Roman Pavlyuchenko both had shots blocked by Baggies defenders and Aaron Lennon had one effort deflected behind and drew a good save from Carson with another.

West Brom played with the type of neat, expansive football that manager Tony Mowbray has insisted upon all season, but a combination of poor fortune and lack of quality was as telling in the clash in North London as it has been for most of the campaign.

Too often their excellent approach play was spoiled by a poor final ball, and their only real chance in the first-half came from a corner, when Jonas Olsson's header was palmed away by Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes.

Tottenham's Russian striker Pavlyuchenko, starting in place of the injured Darren Bent and preferred to Jermain Defoe, scooped one shot high and wide after being released by an excellent Modric through pass and then saw a low drilled shot on the turn go just wide.

Following the break Mowbray sent on Jay Simpson, Juan Carlos Menseguez and Felipe Teixeira, but it was striker Marc-Antoine Fortune who almost gave his side hope when his shot deflected off the boot of Corluka and on to the near post, only for the rebound to find none of his team-mates.

Defoe got a big ovation from the home crowd when replaced Pavlyuchenko, and his first contribution was to block Shelton Martis's header from a corner on the goal line, with Gomes scrambling the rebound clear.

Gomes pulled off another impressive save from Robert Koren's 20-yard strike, and from that save Spurs mounted a swift break that ended with Defoe slotting past Carson into the net, but the fourth official harshly judged the striker to have been offside when Modric played the ball into his path.

West Brom could not find a way through the Spurs back line as the clock ticked down and, when Lennon's shot crashed off the near post with just moments remaining, hopes of them salvaging a potentially precious point evaporated.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 17 - 36 of 36

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  1. tildeslym: Read the comments below, lots of support the­ Baggies below, except from our own "fans"

    From mark w, on Wed 6 May 8:58PM

  2. Speak for your F#cking self Brian lowe "UP THE­ BAGGIES"

    From tildesleym, on Mon 4 May 9:10PM

  3. west ham 4 europe not spurs haha

    From michaelgaffney22, on Sun 3 May 4:47PM

  4. West Brom & Tony Mowbray we are still proud of you­ & our time will come again.

    From brianlowe0901, on Sun 3 May 12:17PM

  5. West Brom & Tony Mowbray we are still proud of you­ & our time will come again.

    From brianlowe0901, on Sun 3 May 12:17PM

  6. I'm glad Spurs won, but I sad for WBA. I think they­ play really good football. I'd much rather see­ Stoke-Sunderland Newcastle- Portsmouth go down.

    From lee, on Sun 3 May 11:00AM

  7. well done you lillywhites....................sorry to­ see WBA go down would larf more if it was Sid­ James's park lot and their northern cronies Boro.­ COYS

    From Wayne, on Sun 3 May 6:51AM

  8. West Bromwich is another one of those clubs going up­ and down like a yoyo. What a waste of a side.

    From sappercommando25, on Sun 3 May 5:10AM

  9. lol @ garylocker....you pleb...only thing you have­ rammed is a @#$% up ya @#$%

    From First L, on Sun 3 May 1:11AM

  10. It was not all that long ago that a lot of WBA fans and­ others were saying that we were going for the drop. Who­ has got the last laugh now!! COYS

    From a.bice, on Sat 2 May 9:28PM

  11. HARAY TOTENAM ARE A SICK(TOP)(COOL) TEAM.KEEP ON WININ­ TOTTHEHAM THERE NICK NAME FOR ME IS TOTY

    From zeba, on Sat 2 May 9:23PM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    spurs beat NEW AGE dingles!!!

    From Garry W, on Sat 2 May 8:06PM

  13. I'm happy that spurs won but it will be sad to see­ west brom go down. They always play a decent solid game­ of football and there build up play is consistently­ good. Its just a shame that once again the quality of­ the final pass & finish in the last third have let­ them down. Im sure if they had just a touch more class­ in the forward attacking play they would have finished­ mid table without too much trouble this season.

    Come­ on you spurs - that europa spot is calling!

    From Shane, on Sat 2 May 6:55PM

  14. come on you Whites

    From christine l, on Sat 2 May 6:42PM

  15. Well said KJ totally agree. I am very happy with todays­ result.

    From Big G, on Sat 2 May 6:39PM

  16. Another good result for Spurs, it's unfortunate­ west brom are looking increasing likely of going down,­ but the premier league is a tough one. People on here­ complaning 1-0 is not good enough, need I remind some­ people that chelsea and aresnal used to do it all that­ time, a win's a win at the end of the day no matter­ how big or little the score line.

    From KJ, on Sat 2 May 6:18PM

  17. scott c you are a spanner and id ram my fist down yr­ neck if i were 2 meet u f--- off our foram u armchair

    From garylocker, on Sat 2 May 6:06PM

  18. feel sorry for west brom. they at least try to play the­ game. i would rather see stoke or blackburn go down.­ defoe's goal was no way offside, it seems every­ week now we have the officials playing a big part in­ our games.

    From bazspur5, on Sat 2 May 5:50PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    spurs only scores one goal on west brom hahaha rubbish­ team

    From rafascrackingup, on Sat 2 May 5:39PM

  20. Look at the bright side at least next season you can­ still come to London and visit us Scott when your­ playin the mighty Crystal Palace and QPR! And hopefully­ the Pope will visit and you can come and kiss his ring!

    From brendancmullan, on Sat 2 May 5:24PM
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