Tottenham 1-0 Blackburn: Aaron Lennon pushes for England recall

Aaron Lennon went a long way to getting himself back into Fabio Capello's good books yesterday.

The Tottenham winger produced one of his best displays for the club - and if he carries on playing like this he could yet make the squad for the 2010 World Cup.

In a week when several fringe players have staked their England claims, Lennon put himself firmly back in the frame by setting up Roman Pavlyuchenko's ninth-minute winner.

His pace frightened Blackburn to death and he terrorised their leftback Martin Olsson into getting himself sent off six minutes before halftime. All too often in the past Lennon has used his pace to good effect only to let himself down with the final ball.

That is probably the reason why Capello has not picked him since taking charge of England in January.

In fact, the Italian has relegated Lennon to fifth choice on the right wing behind Theo Walcott, David Beckham, Shaun Wright-Phillips and David Bentley.

But Lennon was irresistible yesterday, setting up Pavlyuchenko with a perfect low cross and stealing the show on a day when it was supposed to be about returning heroes.

Tottenham winger Bentley, a £16m summer signing from Blackburn, was shifted out to the left to allow Lennon to get at Rovers' weak link Olsson.

But perhaps the biggest cheer of the whole afternoon was for Blackburn's former keeper Paul Robinson who threw his gloves into the Spurs end after the final whistle as the home fans gave him an amazing reception.

There was probably some relief in the Spurs' fans cheers as Robinson's heroics kept Blackburn in a game in which they were always second best.

In fact, Rovers' best hope frequently looked like it would come from another blooper from Tottenham's calamity keeper Heurelho Gomes.

Robinson was virtually hounded out of White Hart Lane after making a small fraction of the number of mistakes that Gomes has already made in just four months.

But no matter how much better Tottenham were than Blackburn, every time the ball went into the Spurs penalty box there was a collective deep breath from the home supporters.

It took Gomes only six minutes to get the Tottenham fans on the edge of their seats - dropping Morten Gamst Pedersen's corner before Vedran Corluka managed to clear.

Tottenham fans began chanting: 'England's No.1' and 'You're Spurs and you know you are' at Robinson, wishing he would come back to replace clown prince Gomes.

But Tottenham's nerves were eased in the ninth minute when Lennon's pace horribly exposed Swedish Under-21 left-back Olsson.

Olsson was caught in possession as he nervously hesitated, Lennon nicked the ball off him, raced for the by-line and cut back a perfect low cross for Pavlyuchenko to sweep home.

It was only the Russian's third goal in the Premier League yet he nearly grabbed his fourth in the 18th minute when he headed Bentley's free-kick on to a post.

But Paul Ince's men never gave up and stayed in the contest even though they were always up against it after Olsson got sent off.

Blackburn nearly benefited when Gomes had a rush of blood to the head, racing off his line and allowing Brett Emerton to chip him in the 19th minute but Jonathan Woodgate came to his keeper's rescue.

Meanwhile, Olsson was losing his head and was booked in the 27th minute for a crude foul - his second within a minute - on Lennon.

The Spurs winger was running the show as he fired just wide after 34 minutes and then nicked the ball past Olsson as he terrorised him down the right again five minutes later. This time Olsson panicked and hacked him down and referee Howard Webb had no option but to send him off.

Rovers needed Robinson to keep them in it with a stunning 40th-minute block from Lennon's deflected shot.

The game fizzled out in the second half although Spurs substitute Fraizer Campbell headed wide from pointblank range. But at least the Spurs fans were able to sing 'We love you Gomes' in the second half as the jittery Brazilian finally kept his goal intact. But Gomes will need a lot more clean sheets to catch Robinson in the popularity stakes.

Tottenham: Gomes 5, Corluka 7, Woodgate 7, King 7, Assou-Ekotto 7, Lennon 8, Huddlestone 8, Jenas 7, Bentley 7 (O'Hara, 86), Pavlyyuchenko 7, Bent 6.
Blackburn : Robinson 8, Ooijer 5, Samba 6, Nelsen 7, Olsson 4, Emerton 6 (Derbyshire, 71), Andrews 5, Mokoena 5, Pedersen 7 (Treacy, 81), McCarthy 5 (Simpson, 46, 7), Santa Cruz 7.
Referee: Howard Webb

Man of the Match
Aaron Lennon 8 - His pace terrified the Blackburn defence

Villain of the Match
Martin Olsson 4 - Reckless challenges reduced Blackburn to 10 men

Anorak
David Bentley scored 21 goals in 133 appearances for Blackburn before his £16m move to Spurs

Next Three Games
Tottenham
Thursday: Nijmegen (a) UEFA Cup
Sunday: Everton (h) Prem
Wed Dec 3: Watford (h) Carling Cup

Blackburn
Sunday: Portsmouth (a) Prem
Wed Dec 3: Man Utd (a) Carling Cup
Sat Dec 6: Liverpool (h) Prem

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