In the late game at Villa Park, Rafael van der Vaart gave Spurs the lead with a close-range finish on 23 minutes, only to see Jermain Defoe shown a straight red card four minutes later for an elbow on James Collins. Villa huffed and puffed with their one-man advantage but fell 2-0 behind on 67, when a swift Tottenham counter-attack saw Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon combine to set up van der Vaart for his second goal of the game. Marc Albrighton's inswinging cross from the left flank went straight in on 82 to set up a frantic finale, but Harry Redknapp's high-flyers held on for a win which saw them leapgrog Bolton into fifth place. In the 3pm kick-offs, Dimitar Berbatov's double saw United stay two points clear at the top of the table following a 2-0 win over Sunderland at Old Trafford. Berbatov took advantage of some slack Sunderland defending to open the scoring at the far post from a Wayne Rooney cross only five minutes in, and the Bulgarian continued to cause problems for the Black Cats, smashing a shot off the post shortly after. United passed up several chances to add to their lead before the break, but eventually found a somewhat fortunate second when Berbatov's wayward shot went in off Anton Ferdinand just before the hour mark. With Chelsea and Arsenal not in action until Monday night, Manchester City will spend the night clear in second place thanks to a 3-1 win over Newcastle at St James' Park. Roberto Mancini's men got off to a lightning quick start thanks to two early goals. Gareth Barry slid home after just 70 seconds and there were only five minutes on the clock when James Milner's low cross was turned in by Carlos Tevez to make it 2-0. But Newcastle never gave up and they got back in it with 20 minutes left when Andy Carroll ghosted through the area to head home Joey Barton's corner. It was suddenly game on again, but Tevez settled City nerves when his close-range shot deflected in off Fabricio Coloccini with 10 minutes left. Down at the other end of the table, two first-half goals gave Wigan a crucial 2-1 win over Wolves at Molineux. Hugo Rodallega's close-range volley put them in front after nine minutes, and on-loan Tom Cleverley doubled the advantage midway through the first half, latching on to a throughball to smash a shot through the goalkeeper's legs. Wolves got a goal back through Steven Fletcher with three minutes remaining, but had left it too late. Bolton are up to fifth after seeing off West Brom 2-0 at The Reebok. Matthew Taylor got the opener five minutes before the break, finishing from close range after good work from Lee Chung-yong, who rounded the goalkeeper and then pulled the ball back. Johan Elmander then made sure of the points four minutes from time. Stoke leapfrogged Newcastle to go eighth with a 2-0 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park. After a dismal first half, Robert Huth headed Stoke into a 51st-minute lead, meeting Matthew Etherington's corner at the near post. Marc Wilson then wrapped up the points with a last-minute strike.
