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Chelsea battle past Wolves as Van der Vaart saves Spurs

Salomon Kalou sealed the win for Chelsea © Getty Images

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Chelsea moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League, but were made to work hard for their 2-0 victory over Wolves at Stamford Bridge.

After a bright start from visitors, Yuri Zhirkov pulled the ball back from the near post to set up Florent Malouda who slotted his shot past Marcus Hahnemann for his seventh goal of the season.

But if the home fans expected Malouda's goal to trigger a goalrush for the champions who have scored 22 times in eight games this season, they were to be frustrated by a well-organised Wolves side. The visitors pushed hard but Salomon Kalou sealed three points for Chelsea with nine minutes left on the clock.

In the early kickoff, Rafael van der Vaart scored his fifth goal in as many games to rescue a point for Tottenham as they drew 1-1 at home with Everton. The Netherlands midfielder struck home from close range to cancel out Leighton Baines' brilliant free-kick - but it owed much to a glaring error from Tim Howard who spilled a simple cross.

Richard Dunne's own goal proved decisive as Sunderland hung on to beat Aston Villa 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Dunne diverted a cross past Brad Friedel into his own net for a record eighth own goal in the Premier League.

Villa dominated the second half but squandered a host of chances; Emile Heskey had the best chance to level but failed to make contact with a simple opening in front of goal as Gerard Houllier's side suffered their fourth defeat of the season. Sunderland are now unbeaten in six Premier League matches.

West Brom moved into the Champions League places after coming from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at the Hawthorns. The Baggies went behind after nine minutes when Zoltan Gera's strike struck the post and bounced back off goalkeeper Scott Carson into the net. But Fulham's lead was short lived, and Youssuf Mulumbu slotted home from Chris Brunt's through ball, and Marc-Antoine Fortune sealed all three points to move above Arsenal into fourth.

West Ham remain rooted to the bottom of the table after losing 2-1 at home to Newcastle. A win would have seen the Hammers move out of the relegation places at the expense of their opponents, and took one step towards extending their unbeaten run to five league matches when Carlton Cole opened the scoring for his first goal of the season.

Cole slid in to meet Frederic Piquionne's ball across the face of the goal to put the Hammers ahead after 12 minutes. But Magpies captain Kevin Nolan levelled for the visitors, and Andy Carroll's diving header snatched all three points for Newcastle, who move into the top half of the table with their first win in four matches.

Nikola Zigic scored his second goal in as many games to help Birmingham to a comfortable 2-0 win over Blackpool at St Andrew's. Liam Ridgewell opened the scoring, heading in from close range after Zigic's header clattered the bar, and the Serbian doubled the lead in the second half after Charlie Adam failed to clear the ball in his own penalty area.

Johan Elmander scored his fifth goal of the season to earn Bolton a 1-1 draw at Wigan. Elmander struck home from close range to cancel out Hugo Rodallega's opener.

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