Tottenham race towards Champions League

Tottenham Hotspur's Jermain Defoe (L) vies with Bolton's Gary Speed during their Premiership match at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham took a huge step towards Champions League qualification as Aaron Lennon's goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

Tottenham took a huge step towards Champions League qualification as Aaron Lennon's goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

They now lead Arsenal by seven points, and although the Gunners have two games in hand, victory for Spurs in their final game of the season, away to West Ham, would secure them fourth spot.

Only victory for Arsenal against Barcelona in the Champions League final on May 17 could then deny Spurs their first appearance in Europe's premier competition in over 40 years.

Bolton's own European ambitions, meanwhile, suffered a severe dent. Five points behind Blackburn with two games remaining, automatic UEFA Cup qualification may be beyond them, and their best hope is probably pipping Newcastle for seventh spot in the Premiership and qualifying through the InterToto.

Although Glenn Roeder's side lead them by three points, they have only one game left, and that against the champions Chelsea, while Bolton have distinctly winnable fixtures against Birmingham and Middlesbrough to come.

They will draw encouragement from the fact that their slump appears to be over. Their European exertions certainly fatigued them this season, but they appeared refreshed in last week's 4-1 win over Charlton and had much the better of the first half on Sunday.

Tottenham Hotspur's Aaron Lennon (R) celebrates with team mate Michael Carrick (L) after Lennon's goal took the match to 1-0 during their Premiership match at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham took a huge step towards Champions League qualification as Lennon's goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

The aerial ability of Kevin Davies and Jared Borgetti posed Spurs constant problems at the back, while Ivan Campo, sitting just in front of the back four, dominated the midfield.

Clear opportunities were few, but after nine minutes, Hidetoshi Nakata seized on a Borgetti knockdown and rattled the woodwork with a smart first-time shot, and Campo might have done rather better than sidefoot wide as a Davies flick reached him after 31 minutes.

For the past couple of months that has been a sense of Tottenham rather clinging on to their position, with even Martin Jol, their manager, acknowledging that there have been a number of disappointing performances.

Their best recent displays, in fact, have probably come at home to Manchester United and away at Arsenal, two games from which they picked up a solitary point.

An injury to Robbie Keane forced him off for Lee Barnard at half-time, but far from restricting Spurs, they began the second half far more brightly than they had ended the first.

Three minutes in Teemu Tainio was given space to run to the edge of the Bolton box. His shot was deflected wide, and only the intervention of Ricardo Gardner on the line prevented Michael Dawson opening the scoring from the resulting corner.

That led to another corner, from which Danny Murphy, in for the suspended Edgar Davids, volleyed a fraction wide. Where Bolton had been able to dominate possession in the first half, suddenly they found the ball wasn't sticking up front, and Spurs took the lead just before the hour.

Lennon, whose recent form could yet earn him a call into England's World Cup squad, gathered a long pass wide on the right, cut infield, and delivered it to Michael Carrick.

Carrick was forced wide again, but he held the ball intelligently, before rolling it back to Lennon, who darted through two half-challenges before sliding the ball into the bottom corner.

The introduction of Jay-Jay Okocha raised Bolton hopes of an equaliser, and it took a splendid save from Paul Robinson to keep out a dipping jab-volley from the former Nigeria captain after 76 minutes, but Spurs, in the end, were comfortable in their victory.

English Premiership table after Sunday's match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Champions: Chelsea

Relegated: Sunderland, West Brom, Birmingham