Tottenham Hotspur's Roman Pavlyuchenko reacts after scoring against Blackburn Rovers during their English Premier League match yesterday. - AP

LONDON (AP):

Roman Pavlyuchenko scored an early goal to give Tottenham a 1-0 victory over 10-man Blackburn and lift Harry Redknapp's team out of the Premier League relegation zone.

Spurs rebounded from last week's 2-1 loss at Fulham by outplaying Rovers for long spells at White Hart Lane, even before Blackburn lost left back Martin Olsson in the 39th minute for two yellow cards.

The defender was also at fault for the goal. He tried to beat Aaron Lennon but lost possession and the winger burst down the right flank and pulled the ball back to the unmarked Pavlyuchenko. The Russian striker beat goalkeeper Paul Robinson with a first-time shot from 12 metres in the ninth minute.

Pavlyuchenko almost added a second in the 18th when he flicked a cross from David Bentley on to the post with the back of his head.

Weaving runs

Lennon repeatedly created openings for Spurs with his weaving runs, and Olsson was sent off for hauling the winger down for his second yellow card.

"Aaron's a terrific player. He's a threat, he carries the game to the opposition, he's got pace, he excites people and his confidence is sky high at the moment," said Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, who has turned around the team's poor start to the season with only one loss in six games.

"We have taken 13 points from 18 but it's lucky we have. When we had only two points, it would have looked a very scary league table if we hadn't had such a fantastic run."

While Spurs climbed out of the last three spots, Blackburn slipped to next-to-last. Wigan, who host Everton today, also dropped into the relegation zone.

In yesterday's other game, West Ham won 1-0 at Sunderland to end a run of seven games without a win and inflict a fourth home loss in a row on the Black Cats through Valon Behrami's goal.

After Djibril Cisse had gone close for Sunderland with a close-range header, the Hammers went ahead in the 20th minute. The Black Cats failed to clear a corner and Behrami's shot took a deflection past goalkeeper Marton Fulop.

Time wasted

After Sunderland's Andy Reid lobbed a 22-metre shot on to the crossbar, the Hammers should have gone further ahead when Anton Ferdinand lost the ball to Craig Bellamy who wasted time trying to get past the goalkeeper. But Bellamy pulled it back to Behrami who hit the crossbar from six metres.

Mike Dean angered Sunderland fans by failing to give a first-half penalty when James Collins brought down Cisse.