Tue, Nov 24, 2009 page20

• Defoe hits five as Tottenham put nine past Wigan

  • AFP
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  Jermain Defoe scored five goals as Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Wigan Athletic 9-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

  Spurs were only 1-0 up at the break, thanks to a goal by Peter Crouch before Defoe ran riot after half-time with Aaron Lennon, an own-goal by Chris Kirkland and Niko Kranjcar’s 90th minute effort adding to the North London club’s tally.

  Although Defoe grabbed the headlines for his five goal return, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said Lennon had made a key contribution to the thumping win.

  

  Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe scores his second goal against Wigan during their English Premier League match at White Hart Lane in London on Sunday.

  PHOTO: REUTERS

  “I thought we started really bright, we had 25 minutes where we really got off after them in the first half before they came back into it,” Redknapp told Sky Sports.

  “We came in at half-time and said we had to get back to how we started, pressing them all over the park, and we decided to work them and made the opportunities and took them,” he said.

  “Their keeper [Chris Kirkland] made some great saves as well,” Redknapp said.

  “Lennon is a fantastic talent, anybody would have had a hard day with him in that sort of form. He deserved that goal at the end,” he said.

  Of Defoe, Redknapp said: “For Jermain to get five goals was an outstanding performance.”

  “”Yesterday in training he looked so sharp and I felt if he could carry that into the game he would be a real handful,” he said. “You don’t get too many nines in the Premier League, it’s a bad day for Roberto Martinez but he’ll come back even stronger.”

  Wigan manager Martinez said: “We finished the first half very strongly and looked like a team who were going to dictate things.”

  “But we have ourselves to blame for the goals we conceded and after that you are climbing a mountain,” he said.

  Spurs went ahead in the ninth minute when Crouch headed home a cross from Lennon.

  Kirkland then had to be alert to deny Lennon and Wilson Palacios.

  Defoe led a rout in the second half with a hat-trick in seven minutes.

  From Lennon’s cross, he got in front of Titus Bramble to shoot into the roof of the net before he slotted home at the far post from a Palacios center.

  Paul Scharner then pulled one back for Wigan although he used his hand to control the ball before shooting past Heurelho Gomes.

  Barely a minute later Defoe had his hat-trick when he volleyed in Lennon’s cross.

  Lennon himself added a fifth before Defoe grabbed his fourth 21 minutes from time by scoring off the post after latching on to Vedran Corluka’s through ball and had a fifth late on when he shot through Kirkland’s legs.

  David Bentley’s free-kick then appeared to hit both the bar and Kirkland before going in and, in the closing seconds, Kranjcar’s shot went in off the woodwork.

  Also See: Rovers win away at last, Fuller strikes to keep Pompey bottom

  English Premier League

  	Team	P	GD	PTS
  1	Chelsea	13	25	33
  2	Manchester United	13	14	28
  3	Arsenal	12	21	25
  4	Tottenham Hotspur	13	14	25
  5	Aston Villa	13	8	22
  6	Manchester City	12	7	21
  7	Liverpool	13	9	20
  8	Sunderland	13	2	20
  9	Stoke City	13	-2	19
  10	Burnley	13	-10	17
  11	Blackburn Rovers	12	-9	16
  12	Fulham	12	-1	15
  13	Birmingham City	13	-3	15
  14	Everton	12	-5	15
  15	Wigan Athletic	13	-17	14
  16	Hull City	13	-15	12
  17	West Ham United	13	-4	11
  18	Bolton Wanderers	12	-11	11
  19	Wolves	13	-14	10
  20	Portsmouth	13	-9	7

   
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