STOKE, England — Emmanuel Adebayor scored a late winner as Tottenham came from behind to beat 10-man Stoke 2-1 in the Premier League on Sunday, provisionally lifting the team above Arsenal into fourth place in the race for Champions League qualification.
Spurs are two points ahead of their north London rivals, who play their game in hand against Wigan on Tuesday, after Adebayor tapped in Clint Dempsey’s low cross in the 83rd minute.
Sunday’s match highlights:
Liverpool 3, Fulham 1 | Newcastle United 2, QPR 1 | Sunderland 1, Southampton 1 | Everton 2, West Ham United 0 | Norwich City 4, West Bromwich Albion 0 |
Dempsey had equalized for Tottenham at Britannia Stadium in the 20th after Steven Nzonzi opened the scoring in the third minute for Stoke, which is still not mathematically safe from relegation.
Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam was sent off in the 47th after collecting a second yellow card for a foul on Jan Vertonghen.
Spurs’ 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Wednesday meant their top-four destiny is no longer in their own hands but beating Stoke has at least put pressure on Arsenal and ensured the battle for fourth will go down to the final day of the season, when Tottenham hosts Sunderland and Arsenal visits Newcastle.
Initially, though, Tottenham couldn’t live with Stoke’s trademark intensity and physicality, and conceded a poor goal when Adam whipped in a straightforward free kick to the near post for Nzonzi to glance home a header.
Roared on by its fans, Stoke was winning all the 50-50s and second balls but Tottenham finally came into the game with Gareth Bale off target with a couple of chances before Dempsey reacted quickly to place a finish into an empty net from 30 yards out after Mark Wilson botched a clearance following miscommunication with goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Adam’s red card changed the complexion of the game and Spurs peppered Begovic’s goal with a series of shots from Dempsey, Bale and Adebayor.
The crucial breakthrough arrived when Dempsey wriggled free in the area and delivered an inviting centre that Adebayor could hardly miss.
Stoke is six points clear of third-from-bottom Wigan, which has two matches remaining, and has a far superior goal difference.
Liverpool 3, Fulham 1
LONDON — Daniel Sturridge scored a hat trick for his sixth goal in the past four Premier League matches on Sunday as Liverpool came from behind to win 3-1 at Fulham.
After Dimitar Berbatov gave Fulham a 33rd-minute lead with a header at Craven Cottage, Sturridge scored in the 36th, 62nd and 85th minutes to extend Liverpool’s unbeaten run to six games.
Sturridge latched on to Philippe Coutinho’s deflected pass to score his first, before beating goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to make it 2-1. He rounded off the win near the end with a clever chip over the Australian international.
Fulham’s final home game of the season ended with boos from the crowd after they watched their team extend their losing run to five games.
Liverpool stayed seventh, while Fulham dropped to 15th.
Norwich 4, West Bromwich Albion 0
NORWICH, England — Norwich emphatically secured another season in the Premier League by beating West Bromwich Albion 4-0 on Sunday.
Robert Snodgrass gave the Canaries a halftime lead before a howler by Ben Foster gifted Grant Holt the second and former Ipswich defender Gareth McAuley’s own goal put the game beyond reach. Jonny Howson scored a spectacular late fourth as Chris Hughton’s team claimed just their third win in 20 Premier League games to make certain of their top-flight status ahead of next week’s final day trip to Manchester City.
FA Cup winner Wigan, which plays Arsenal on Tuesday, meets Aston Villa on the final day of the season, meaning at least one of the sides below Norwich will drop points.
Unlike the hosts, West Brom had little to play for, with eighth or ninth place its only possible finishing position.
Everton 2, West Ham 0
LIVERPOOL, England — Kevin Mirallas gave David Moyes a victory in his final home game as Everton manager, scoring twice in a 2-0 victory over West Ham.
The Belgium striker drilled home the opening goal in the sixth minute and then added the second with a deflected shot in the 60th to give Moyes a perfect sendoff from Goodison Park.
Moyes is taking over from Alex Ferguson at Manchester United at the end of the season after leading the Toffees for 11 years.
The win over West Ham also guaranteed that Everton will finish above Liverpool for the second successive season.
Newscastle 2, QPR 1
LONDON — Newcastle overcame a nervous start and finish to secure a 2-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League Sunday and ease its relegation fears.
The victory over the already relegated QPR moved Newcastle six points clear of 18th-place Wigan, which has a game in hand.
Newcastle, which came into the game with just one league victory away from home this season, fell behind in the 11th minute to Loic Remy’s penalty.
The visitors levelled seven minutes later when Hatem Ben Arfa converted a penalty he won when fouled by Jose Bosingwa.
The sides then exchanged chances until Yoan Gouffran broke the deadlock with a long-range strike in the 35th.
Newcastle pressed for a third goal and enjoyed a considerable edge in possession in the second half until its goalkeeper Rob Elliot was sent off for a second yellow card in the 80th after handling the ball outside the area.
Sunderland 1, Southampton 1
SUNDERLAND, England — Jason Puncheon kept Sunderland in relegation danger in the Premier League by scoring a 74th-minute equalizer for Southampton in a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
With one match remaining, Sunderland is four points clear of third-from-bottom Wigan, whose game in hand is against Arsenal on Tuesday. If Wigan loses, it goes down and Sunderland is safe.
Phil Bardsley looked like giving Paolo Di Canio’s side victory — and virtually guaranteeing its safety — when he scored a deflected shot from the edge of the area in the 68th minute.
However, Puncheon hooked the ball into the net from close range after having an initial attempt saved only two minutes after coming on as a substitute to claim a draw for Southampton, which is five points ahead of Wigan.