Tottenham Hotspur continued their climb away from the English Premier football League danger zone when Roman Pavlyuchenko's early goal gave them a scrappy 1-nil home win over 10-man Blackburn Rovers.
West Ham United also leapt up the table after securing their first win for two months with a 1-nil success at Sunderland.
Spurs struck after nine minutes when a lively Aaron Lennon crossed low for Russia striker Pavlyuchenko to sweep home smartly from 12 metres.
Blackburn had Martin Olsson sent off for a second booking after 39 minutes and from then on the game drifted aimlessly to a close.
Spurs climb to 15th on 15 points, only a month after they were rooted to the bottom with two.
Blackburn, who barely tested Tottenham's nervy Brazilian keeper Heurelho Gomes, slip to second-last on 13 points.
West Ham climbed to 13th on 17 points, leaving Sunderland just above the drop zone on 15.
