Stoke dents Spurs' Premier League title challenge

Posted Monday, December 12, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

Tottenham’s 11-match unbeaten run ended Sunday with a 2-1 loss at Stoke in the English Premier League.

Matthew Etherington, who played for Tottenham from 2000-03, scored twice in the first half to help send the Spurs to their first defeat since Aug. 28.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored on a penalty kick in the 62nd minute for Tottenham, which was hurt by a red card to Younes Kaboul late in the game.

Tottenham remained seven points behind Manchester City, which visits Chelsea on Monday. Stoke moved up two places to eighth.

In the other game, Sunderland celebrated Martin O’Neill’s first match in charge by rallying past Blackburn 2-1. Sebastian Larsson scored the winner during injury time to lift the team out of the relegation zone. O’Neill, away from coaching for 16 months, guided Sunderland to only its third victory of the season.

Malaga salvaged a 1-1 home draw against Osasuna to maintain its place among Spain’s Europa League contenders.

Osasuna’s Ibrahima Balde opened the scoring in 33rd minute when he pounced on a loose ball from in close. In the 70th minute, Malaga substitute Juanmi Jimenez strode in unmarked at the far post to convert Sergio Sanchez’s cross.

The draw kept Malaga in sixth place, behind Sevilla on goal difference, and two points ahead of Osasuna.

Earlier, struggling Sporting Gijon won 3-1 at Rayo Vallecano, and 10-man Real Sociedad drew 1-1 at Villarreal to extend its unbeaten run to four games.

Udinese moved to the top of Serie A with a 2-1 win against Chievo, and AC Milan was held to a 2-2 draw at Bologna to stay in third place.

Antonio Di Natale scored his 10th of the season for Udinese and Dusan Basta doubled its lead before Alberto Paloschi struck for Chievo.

Udinese is a point ahead of Juventus, which has played a game less, and two points ahead of Milan.

Marco Di Vaio put Bologna ahead but goals from Clarence Seedorf and Zlatan Ibrahimovic swung the match Milan’s way. Alessandro Diamanti tied it for Bologna in the 73rd minute.

Atalanta drew 1-1 at home to 10-man Catania and Parma held Cagliari to a goalless draw.

Bayern Munich extended its lead in the Bundesliga to three points after Mario Gomez scored twice in a 2-1 victory over 10-man Stuttgart, and title rival Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 with Kaiserslautern.

Gomez took his league-leading goal total to 15 by scoring in the 13th and 57th minutes. Christian Gentner had put the home team ahead in the sixth minute.

Christian Molinaro was sent off in the 29th for a bad tackle on Arjen Robben, five minutes after earning his first yellow card for another lunge at the Dutchman.

Bayern has 34 points, with Dortmund and Schalke at 31 and fourth-place Borussia Moenchengladbach at 30.

Defending champion Lille kept the pressure on Montpellier and Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the French league by beating Dijon 2-0 at home.

Moussa Sow and Eden Hazard scored a goal in each half to help Lille get back to winning ways after it failed to reach the next round of the Champions League when it drew 0-0 against Trabzonspor on Wednesday.

Lille is in third place, two points behind Paris Saint-Germain and Montpellier.

PSG won 1-0 at Sochaux on Saturday, while Montpellier lost 1-0 at Valenciennes.

Ajax needed an own-goal by Guy Ramos to beat RKC Waalwijk 1-0 and move back into fourth place in the Dutch league.

FC Utrecht drew 2-2 at home to Feyenoord, with Jerson Cabral scoring the tying goal for the visitors after an early strike by teammate John Guidetti. Daan Bovenberg and Edouard Duplan scored for FC Utrecht.

VVV Venlo moved out of last place after its second victory of the season, a 2-0 win over Roda JC.

At the top, AZ Alkmaar, PSV Eindhoven and FC Twente all won Saturday.

Alkmaar leads the standings with 38 points, four more than PSV, with one more round before a one-month Christmas break.