Salvation for Tottenham as Palhinha seals victory over Everton

LONDON, May 24 : Tottenham Hotspur salvaged their Premier League status in the nick of time as Joao Palhinha's first-half goal earned a priceless 1-0 home victory over Everton on Sunday.

Only an 11th home league defeat of a miserable season could have sent Tottenham down for the first time since 1977, but Palhinha's 43rd-minute effort erased that nightmare scenario on a nervy afternoon in north London.

It meant West Ham United's 3-0 win over Leeds United was in vain as Tottenham finished 17th on 41 points, two points ahead of their London rivals who were relegated.

Tottenham's victory completed an escape mission led by Roberto de Zerbi who has rejuvenated the team since taking charge little more than a month ago with Spurs deep in trouble.

After an afternoon of tension and 10 agonising minutes of stoppage time in which every Tottenham clearance was cheered, the final whistle was met by huge relief with several Spurs players collapsing to the turf.

"It's unacceptable that the last game we played this season was to avoid relegation," said Spurs defender Micky van de Ven. "It was embarrassing to let it come to the final day but we did it and that is what is important."

It was all smiles as the players took the customary end-of-season lap of honour, but once the dust settles Tottenham will realise just how close they came to calamity after a 15-game winless run at the start of the year.

The twice English champions have only spent one season outside the top flight since 1950 - the last occasion being 1977-78. But for much of this year they have been in a spiral towards relegation that would have resulted in a financial hit in the region of 150 million pounds ($201 million).

Italian De Zerbi has taken 11 points from his seven games in