23/11/2009 5:54 AM
Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe scored five times to send his side back into the Champions League places as Harry Redknapp's men hammered Wigan 9-1 at White Hart Lane.
Paul Scharner appeared to handle when he grabbed Wigan's goal - at which point it momentarily trailed 3-1 - but there was no controversy as Defoe went rampant.
Aaron Lennon, Peter Crouch, a Chris Kirkland own goal and Niko Kranjcar accounted for Tottenham's other four goals.
The clash was played on a Sunday following an agreement between the clubs so players could rest after the international break - and Defoe seemed the freshest of the players on display by grabbing his goals in the second half.
Blackburn ended a run of 10 successive defeats on the road in the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Bolton that gave a welcome boost to the absent Sam Allardyce.
Allardyce is set to have surgery on a heart condition and missed the game with the club he played for and managed.
His team did him proud though with midfielder David Dunn capping a superb performance by making the breakthrough.
Bolton's misery was complete when full-back Sam Ricketts scored a bizarre own goal in the second half.
In Sunday's final game, striker Ricardo Fuller applied a clinical finish to a neat passing move to give Stoke a 1-0 victory at home to Portsmouth.
The Jamaican's turn and shot in the 74th minute came after a swift interchange of passes between Matthew Etherington and Dean Whitehead.
Pompey, who lost England goalkeeper David James to a calf injury in the warm-up, had earlier missed an eighth-minute penalty from Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Bolton 0
Blackburn 2
(Dunn 32, Ricketts 73og)
Tottenham 9
(Crouch 9, Defoe 51, 54, 58, 69, 87, Lennon 64, Kirkland 88og, Kranjcar 90)
Wigan 1
(Scharner 57)
Stoke 1
(Fuller 74)
Portsmouth 0