Premier League: Blackburn 1 Tottenham 2

Two goals from Rafael van der Vaart condemned Blackburn to another home defeat as Tottenham recorded a 2-1 Premier League victory at Ewood Park.

Despite a strong performance from the home side they lacked quality in front of goal and were punished by two excellent strikes from Spurs’ Dutch forward.

Mauro Formica had got his side back into the game before Van der Vaart struck to seal the points for the visitors.

Despite Blackburn creating some good chances early it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Kyle Walker surged down the right and passed to Van der Vaart, who calmly side-footed the ball into the back of the net.

Gareth Bale was causing problems for Blackburn’s defence, with the Welshman’s low cross finding Emmanuel Adebayor whose shot was well saved by Paul Robinson.

Spurs had been dominating the game but in the 27th minute the hosts got themselves back on level terms when Formica reacted fastest to a scramble inside the penalty area before blasting the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards out.

The visitors began the second half in a confident mood and were twice very close to going ahead in the 52nd minute through Luka Modric and Bale.

Seconds later Van der Vaart doubled his tally with a sublime finish from the edge of the area.

The introduction of Yakubu in the 69th minute seemed to awaken Blackburn and the Nigerian had three good chances to get his side back into the game.

The first came from a low cross but he managed to put his shot wide of the post. He then had two good headed opportunities but he was unable to test Brad Friedel in the Spurs goal.