England’s Race for Fourth: Spurs, City Wins Set-Up Wednesday Showdown

Tottenham Hotspur continues to lead England’s race for fourth place, defeating Bolton 1-0 at White Hart Lane while Manchester City overcame an early John Carew goal to down fellow fourth place contenders Aston Villa, 3-1 at Eastlands.

Carew put the Villans up in the 16th minute when a Stewart Downing ball found him in the penalty area, fifteen yards high to the left of goal, his run having beaten poorly trailing defender Kolo Touré. The big Norweigan quickly turned on the ball and put his shot under emergency goalkeeper Martin Fulop, putting Villa up.

Manchester City responded with control of the match but few good opportunities until Villa left back Stephen Warnock’s extended left leg took down Adam Johnson, moments after the City winger’s heavy touch sent the ball toward the goal line. Carlos Tévez slotted the spot kick under the diving Brad Freidel to equalize.

One minute later, Emmanuel Adebayor was found alone in the box, ten yards from goal, and beat Freidel to put City ahead to stay.

Aside from Ashley Young’s constant ability to get crosses in around City’s Wayne Bridge, Villa had trouble creating opportunities for an equalizer.

In second half stoppage time, Craig Bellamy finished a brilliant run-and-pass from substitute Shaun Wright Phillips, giving City their 3-1 win.

At White Hart Lane, a 38th minute goal from Tom Huddlestone put Spurs up early, with the hosts playing out the match to a controlled 1-0 win over Bolton. The midfielder’s strike from just outside the box put the Trotters down just before half time, the ball beating Jussi Jaaskelainen to the upper-right hand corner.

The wins sets-up Wednesday’s fixture at Eastlands, where City and Spurs will make-up their match in hand with a game against each other.

Spurs have won three straight meetings against City, including December’s 3-0 victory at White Hart Lane.

Saturday’s wins also eliminated the possibility Aston Villa can finish fourth, their maximum points being 67 (with Tottenham or Manchester City guaranteed to finish with at least 68).

For Liverpool, fourth place is nearly unreachable. The Reds would need to win their last two matched (including tomorrow’s game against Chelsea), have City and Spurs draw on Wednesday, and have both their competitors lose next weekend.

More: 7500 to Holte, a Villan’s view of the City victory