Tottenham seal top spot; Anzhi advance

Tottenham Hotspur won 2-0 against Tromso in the bitter chill of Norway on Thursday to seal first place in a Europa League Group K encounter and ease a little of the pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Michael Dawson and Roberto Soldado were the only two players to keep their place in the team from the Manchester City debacle, and the much-changed Spurs side had to wait until the second half before finally breaking down a team who were recently relegated to the Norwegian second tier.

 The opener at the Alfheim Stadion did not come until the 63rd minute, when Adnan Causevic turned the ball into his own net under pressure from Vlad Chiriches, and the London club doubled their advantage when Gylfi Sigurdsson set up Mousa Dembele to fire home from 12 yards with 14 minutes remaining.

  Anzhi Makhachkala are also through to the last 32 after a 1-1 draw at home to Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova in Russia, and a host of clubs sealed qualification elsewhere.

French giants Olympique Lyonnais, who have endured a difficult start to the season, recorded a narrow 1-0 win at home to Spanish top-flight strugglers Real Betis with Bafetimbi Gomis coming off the bench to score the only goal of the Group I game in the second half at the Stade de Gerland.

 Despite the defeat, Betis are also through, their superior head-to-head record against Vitoria Guimaraes – who drew 0-0 with Rijeka in Croatia – guaranteeing them at least second spot.

 Genk of Belgium are through with a game to spare in Group G after a 3-1 victory at home to Dynamo Kiev, while Lazio's 2-0 defeat of Legia Warsaw in Poland means they join Trabzonspor in advancing from Group J.

 Former UEFA Cup finalists AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands and PAOK of Greece are now through from Group L while Sevilla are certain to progress from Group H despite only managing a 1-1 home draw with Estoril in Spain.

Valencia, who began their campaign with a surprise loss against English side Swansea, also sealed their place to the least 32 with a 1-0 win against the same opponents in a Group A fixture at the Liberty Stadium.

 Michael Laudrup's side need a point at Switzerland's St Gallen in a fortnight to be sure of joining Valencia in the knock-out stage as group runners-up, but will be more concerned about the state of their squad for their Premier League campaign before the busy festive period.

A mistake by Gerhard Tremmel in failing to punch clear a corner enabled the unmarked Daniel Parejo to score after Juan Bernat's deflected shot had broken kindly to him from the edge of the box.


Results: GROUP A: Kuban Krasnodar: 4 bt St Gallen: 0; Swansea: 0 lt to Valencia: 1. GROUP B: Chornomorets Odessa: 2 bt Dinamo Zagreb: 1; Ludogorets Razgrad: 2 bt PSV Eindhoven: 0. GROUP C: Elfsborg: 0 lt to Salzburg: 1; Esbjerg: 2 bt Standard Liege: 1. GROUP D: Rubin Kazan: 1 drew with Maribor: 1; Wigan Athletic: 1 lt to Zulte Waregem: 2. GROUP E: Pacos Ferreira: 0 drew with Fiorentina: 0; Dnipro: 4 bt Pandurii: 1. GROUP F: Bordeaux: 0 lt to Eintracht Frankfurt: 1; APOEL Nicosia: 0 drew with Maccabi Tel-Aviv: 0. GROUP G: Genk: 3 bt Dynamo Kiev: 1; Rapid Vienna: 2 bt FC Thun: 1. GROUP H: Slovan Liberec: 1 lt to Freiburg: 2; Sevilla: 1 drew with Estoril: 1. GROUP I: Olympique Lyonnais: 1 bt Real Betis: 0; Rijeka: 0 drew with Vitoria Guimaraes : 0. GROUP J: Trabzonspor: 4 bt Apollon Limassol: 2; Legia Warsaw: 0 lt to Lazio: 2. GROUP K: Anzhi Makhachkala: 1 drew with Sheriff Tiraspol: 1; Tromso: 0 lt to Tottenham Hotspur: 2. GROUP L: AZ Alkmaar: 2 lt to Maccabi Haifa: 0; Shakhter Karagandy: 0 lt to PAOK: 2.