Premier League: Tottenham 2 Blackburn 0

Tottenham moved back into fourth place in the Premier League after a comfortable 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at White Hart Lane.

Spurs dominated the game throughout the 90 minutes and thoroughly deserved the three points against a demoralised Blackburn side.

The hosts took the lead through Rafael van der Vaart midway through the first half, the Dutchman finding the net following a goal mouth scramble.

Harry Redknapp’s men continued to press and eventually sealed the victory with 15 minutes to go thanks to a fantastic free-kick by Kyle Walker.

Spurs got off to a bright start and should have taken the lead inside the second minute through Aaron Lennon, but the winger got his feet in a muddle and squandered the chance.

The hosts dominated possession in the first quarter of an hour and were the width of a crossbar away from taking the lead, with Sandro firing a shot from 25 yards out and rattling the frame of the goal with Paul Robinson well beaten.

Blackburn found it difficult to get out of their half as they defended wave after wave of Tottenham attacks with Spurs continually exploiting space in the wide areas.

The breakthrough eventually came in the 22nd minute, as Blackburn’s failure to clear a loose ball inside the penalty box resulted in Van der Vaart scoring from close range.

Lennon spurned a glorious chance to double the hosts’ lead a moment later as he skipped across the pitch in a counter-attack and opted to take a shot that blazed wide when Emmanuel Adebayor was open.

Spurs wasted another chance to deservedly double their lead just before the break as William Gallas’ header came off the bar.

Blackburn enjoyed their best spell of possession at the beginning of the second period but could not manage a meaningful attempt on goal.

Tottenham were soon on top again though as the visitors, despite being a goal down and in a perilous position in the relegation battle, failed to show any attacking impetus or desire to win the ball back.

Spurs had half chances to create some breathing space between the sides but both Gareth Bale and Luka Modric dragged their efforts wide from decent shooting positions whereas Blackburn had yet to manage a shot on goal.

The second goal eventually came in the 75th minute and it was well worth the wait for Spurs supporters.

Van der Vaart stood over a free-kick from 35 yards out, when suddenly Walker ran up to the ball and whipped a superb right-footed free-kick into the top right-hand corner of the net.

The spectacular swerve generated on the ball left Robinson with no chance of keeping it out.