West Ham finally gave their long-suffering fans something to cheer about with a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham in a huge boost to the club's Premiership survival hopes.

Former Spurs favourite Les Ferdinand put the Hammers on course for only their second home win of the season with his first goal for his new club after 31 minutes.

England midfielder Michael Carrick made the points sure two minutes after the break, capitalising on a fumble by Tottenham's American goalkeeper Kasey Keller to fire home.

It was West Ham's second straight win after Sunday's precious victory at West Brom. Although it was not enough to lift them out of the

relegation zone, West Ham are now level with Bolton on points and within three points of Birmingham.

Beneath West Ham, West Brom and Sunderland look to be running out of time to escape the drop after both succumbed to 1-0 defeats.

Southampton striker James Beattie's 18th Premiership goal of the season - a 30-yard superstrike -condemned West Brom to their 18th defeat of the season.

Sunderland dominated Fulham for long periods of their clash at Loftus Road but Louis Saha's breakaway late winner for Fulham left Howard Wilkinson's men anchored to the bottom, seven points away from safety with only nine games left.

At the other end of the table, nine-million-pound England defender Jonathan Woodgate celebrated his Newcastle debut with a solid display in a 2-1 win over Chelsea.

The victory lifts the Magpies to within five points of leaders Arsenal, who play Charlton at Highbury on Sunday, and level with Manchester United.

French defender Olivier Bernard was Newcastle's hero with a deftly-taken second-half winner after Frank Lampard's sweet volley had cancelled out a spectacular own goal by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Everton failed to take full advantage of Chelsea's second successive defeat but a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough was enough to move them above the London club into fourth place, the final qualifying spot for the Champions League.

Defender Steve Watson's 23rd-minute shot had put the visitors ahead.

But Juninho delighted the home

crowd by coming on as a second half substitute to equalise a quarter of an hour from the end. It was the Brazilian midfielder's first appearance since he suffered a serious knee injury in August, just weeks after rejoining the club after helping Brazil win the World Cup.

There was a sense of deja vu for the visiting fans as Juninho's last premier league game had also been against Everton, in the final match of the 1999/2000 season, when the he scored the winner in Boro's 2-0 victory.

Saturday's strike earned a point for his club and ended a long road back to match fitness for the 30-year-old, who had brought nearly 20,000 flocking to the Riverside on Tuesday for his appearance in a reserve game.

His goal in that 9-0 win over Bradford City's reserves proved to be a good omen for his senior debut, though the player himself was just glad to be back in the game.

Looking back on his operation and rehabilitation after getting injured against Modena last August, Juninho told Sky Sports on Saturday: "I was never out for a long time in my career -- that was the first time and I hope it's the last.

"It's so hard when you're not playing. Only those who have been through that know it is very hard," said Juninho who missed out on the English Premiership table after 1998 World Cup finals after breaking hSisalteugrpdlaayy'insg mforatActlheetisco(Mplaadyrieddi,n won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals apgaFion.rsmt,eproiEnntgsl)a: nd under-21 star

David Dunn scored the winner as BAlarsceknbaulrn b2e8at1M8 a6nch4es6te2r C3i0ty610-0 aMtEawnoUotddPa2r8k. 16 7 5 45 26 55

Newcastle28 17 4 7 47 33 55

Everton 29 14 7 8 38 34 49