Spurs keep top four chase alive with Cardiff win

Tottenham Hotspur kept alive their hopes of a top four Premier League finish when Roberto Soldado scored the only goal at White Hart Lane to give them a 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Cardiff City on Sunday.

Soldado finished off a sizzling counter-attack from Spurs after 28 minutes to lift them on to 53 points from 28 matches. Chelsea lead the league on 63 points, followed by Liverpool and Arsenal on 59 and Manchester City who have 57 and two games in hand on the sides around them.

The result left Cardiff one point and one place above Fulham at the bottom of the table.

The other two games on Sunday ended in a 4-1 win for Aston Villa over Norwich City while Swansea City and Crystal Palace drew 1-1.

Norwich took the lead after three minutes at Villa Park when Wes Hoolahan, who Villa wanted to sign in the January transfer window, stabbed home from 10 metres out.

But the game turned on its head in a 16-minute spell when Villa scored four times. Belgium striker Christian Benteke opened the scoring with a brilliantly executed scissor-kick after 25 minutes before he headed in to make it 2-1 two minutes later.

Leandro Bacuna then struck with a shot that went in off the base of a post after 37 minutes and Villa added a fourth when Sebastien Bassong bundled into his own net four minutes later.

Swansea City took the lead against Palace through Jonathan de Guzman after 25 minutes but the visitors equalised when Glenn Murray scored an 83rd minute penalty after Chico Flores was sent off for denying Murray a scoring chance.