London, February 15

Tottenham Hotspur moved within two points of top spot with dramatic 2-1 wins over Premier League fourth-placed Manchester City on Sunday to keep the title race wide open.

Christian Eriksen celebrated his 24th birthday with the winning goal for Spurs. Tottenham Hotspur broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute after referee Mark Clattenburg ruled that City’s Raheem Sterling had handled in the area even though he turned his back as Danny Rose crossed and the ball hardly seemed to hit his arm. But that did not worry Kane who fired his spot kick down the centre of the goal and past his England teammate Joe Hart into the net.

Yaya Toure almost equalised for the home side when he hit the bar with a 57th minute free kick, but they were soon level when Kelechi Iheanacho swept a cross from Gael Clichy into the roof of Spurs net. Eriksen though gave Spurs all three points when he scored in the 83rd minute after a surging run from Erik Lamela.

Earlier, Liverpool pushed Aston Villa even closer to relegation when they crushed the Premier League’s bottom club 6-0 leading to a mass exodus of home fans long before the final whistle at Villa Park. Liverpool went ahead when Daniel Sturridge, who has been injured for most of the season, headed in after 16 minutes before former Villa winger James Milner doubled their lead with an inswinging free kick eight minutes later.

Villa collapsed midway through the second half conceding four goals in 13 minutes with Emre Can starting the blitz with a long shot that beat keeper Mark Bunn after 57 minutes. Divock Origi burst through to make it 4-0 a minute after coming on as a substitute before defender Nathaniel Clyne made it 5-0 with a tap-in and Kolo Toure headed a sixth in the 70th.