Premier League: Swansea 1 Tottenham 1

Tottenham were denied their ninth win in eleven Premier League games following a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Swansea on Saturday.

A forgettable first half at Liberty Stadium was dominated by Swansea, yet their inability to break the deadlock cost them as Rafael van der Vaart struck home from close range on the stroke of half-time.

Swansea pushed for much of the second half without success, but were handed a break when Brad Friedel lost the ball from a cross to allow Scott Sinclair to tap in and restore parity.

It was the home side who started the brighter of the two, with Nathan Dyer stinging the palms of Friedel early on with a well-struck 20-yard effort.

Sinclair was then inches away from adding to his tally of four for the season with a beautifully curled effort that clipped the side netting on its way wide.

Tottenham looked to have been gifted their first real opportunity of the game when Dyer sold Michel Vorm short with a poor back-pass, but the Dutch goalkeeper showed great awareness and technique to deny Emmanuel Adebayor a sure goal.

Despite the lack of clear-cut chances Swansea had been the better side, and they were dealt a sucker punch on the stroke of half-time.

Following some good work on the left hand side from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Van der Vaart hammered home from ten yards, the ball taking a slight deflection to leave Vorm helpless.

It was Spurs who started the second half the better, Younes Kaboul with an adventurous run forward before exchanging a lovely one-two with Adebayor, only to see his low effort saved by Vorm at his front post.

Swansea had a great chance to equalise with ten minutes remaining but Kyle Walker recovered to deny Sinclair a tap in.

From the resulting corner Sinclair saw his low effort cleared off the line by Luka Modric as the hosts piled on the pressure.

With five minutes to go Brendan Rodgers’ men finally got the break they deserved when an Angel Rangel cross saw Friedel fumble the ball, with Sinclair on hand to tap in the equaliser.