TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 CHELSEA 1

Aaron Lennon's second half strike secured a first ever Barclays Premiership win for Tottenham Hotspur and caused 10-man Chelsea to lose ground in the title race. Chelsea had taken an early lead through Claude Makelele's stunning long-range effort, but were pegged back before the break by Michael Dawson's first goal in Spurs colours. Lennon then gave his side the lead before Blues skipper John Terry was sent off for a second bookable offence in a pulsating encounter. Tottenham, unbeaten in four Barclays Premiership games prior to this encounter, were unchanged from their 3-1 midweek victory over Bruges in the UEFA Cup, with Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane leading the attack.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho made one change from the side which drew 2-2 with Barcelona - Paulo Ferreira replacing Khalid Boulahrouz at right-back, meaning Hilario kept his place in goal for the Barclays Premiership champions. Five minutes in Hossam Ghaly's shimmy on the halfway line gave the Egyptian space and his pace ate up the ground allowed by Chelsea before his low shot was saved by Hilario. But that was their only chance of the opening spell as Chelsea took over, and after Michael Essien and Frank Lampard had attempts on goal, Makelele fired them into the lead in style.

Ledley King had raced back to put in a crucial tackle as Arjen Robben was preparing to shoot from inside the area, giving Chelsea a corner. Lampard swung the ball in, King cleared, but only as far as Makelele, who hit a thunderous 25-yard shot to give Paul Robinson no chance. The Blues were playing with a flair not seen too often in recent months, and could have been 2-0 up a minute later, Michael Ballack cutting the ball back across the area to Lampard, whose ferocious strike required a smart save from Robinson. But seven minutes later Spurs were level, Jenas hit a dangerous free-kick into the area, where Dawson rose above Didier Drogba to head in his first ever goal for Tottenham.

Berbatov forced a save from Hilario on the half-hour mark, and from the resulting corner, any one of three Spurs players could have prodded the ball home in a goalmouth melee. The game was end-to-end and Drogba almost celebrated penning a new four-year contract in the perfect way after 34 minutes when he fashioned a chance from nothing, but his scissor-kick went inches wide of Robinson's left post. Lennon was full of running as usual, and eight minutes before the break, he jinked and battled his way past and through two Chelsea defenders, before putting in a far-post cross which Keane headed just over the bar.

Keane and Drogba had further chances to extend the lead for their respective sides before the break, but both shot wide from distance. Boulahrouz replaced Ferreira for the start of the second half and was one of a trio of Chelsea players deceived as Spurs took the lead after 52 minutes. Keane left the Dutchman grounded on the left wing and sent in a whipped cross which was deflected into the path of Lennon, who dummied one defender and calmly side-footed between another and Hilario for his first of the season.

And Boulahrouz was at fault again in the 64th minute when Spurs could, and perhaps should have extended their lead. He missed his interception and allowed tormentor-in-chief Keane through on goal, the Irishman laid the ball off to Berbatov, but the Bulgarian just couldn't produce the finishing touch. A nightmare 17 minutes for Mourinho's summer signing was completed when, despite having only entered the fray at half-time, Boulahrouz found himself substituted for Salomon Kalou in the 69th minute.

The visitors were no longer putting together the free-flowing football which had characterised the first half, and their cause was done no favours when influential skipper Terry received a second yellow card and forced them to play the final 18 minutes with ten men. This didn't stop them trying to grab the equaliser though, with Kalou forcing a good save from Robinson, and Pascal Chimbonda several times rescuing his side from danger. Chelsea are always capable of scoring, and stand-in captain Lampard blazed over from close range before with three minutes left Robben curled a spectacular shot from the edge of the area onto the post.

However, forced to play Essien as a makeshift defender in a three-man backline, Chelsea were still vulnerable, and substitute Jermain Defoe's blushes at missing a great chance from Lennon's cross were saved only by the linesman's flag.