Emmanuel Adebayor stars in Spurs win

London: Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice as Tottenham Hotspur moved level on points with fourth-placed Liverpool in the Premier League after a 3-1 win away to struggling Swansea on Sunday.

Adebayor’s goals, separated by a Chico Flores own-goal, ensured Tottenham remained unbeaten in the league under manager Tim Sherwood, whose record now stands at five wins and a draw since the Englishman replaced sacked predecessor Andre Villas-Boas.

For Swansea, an eighth successive league match without a win left Michael Laudrup’s men just three points above the relegation zone.

The Welsh club had early chances at the Liberty Stadium, with Hugo Lloris saving Jonjo Shelvey’s long-range shot and striker Wilfried Bony hitting the crossbar when the France goalkeeper had been beaten by a powerful shot.

Swansea also had appeals for a penalty rejected by referee Martin Atkinson after Ivory Coast forward Bony was pushed in the back by Spurs defender Michael Dawson inside the box.

But, against the run of play, Togo international Adebayor gave Spurs a 35th minute lead when he powered in a header following an excellent first-time cross from Christian Eriksen.

And the north London side made it 2-0 in the 53rd minute when Flores turned Kyle Walker’s cross into his own net with Spurs’ Nacer Chadli waiting behind him.

Spurs wasted a chance to make it 3-0 when Mousa Dembele shot wide with Adebayor unmarked just yards from goal.

However, Adebayor’s fury turned to joy when, moments later, Spurs again opened up the frail Swansea defence.

Danny Rose did not repeat Dembele’s mistake but instead squared the ball to Adebayor who tapped from in from close range in the 71st minute.

Bony pulled a goal back seven minutes later with a shot from the edge of the box but it was all too late for Swansea.

Sunday’s other top-flight match saw high-flyers Chelsea at home to Manchester United.

Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho did not get the job at Manchester United because of his reputation for short-term fixes at clubs and confrontations with hierarchy.

But eight months into his reign at Chelsea, with no major diplomatic incidents to report thus far, it may be that United called it wrong. For Mourinho claims that his management style was always going to change when he settled down at a club. Now, he insists, he has.

‘I don’t know if my reputation is unfair or not,’ said Mourinho in the run up to his clash with Manchester United and David Moyes on Sunday. ‘I reflect a lot about my style of leadership when I am at a certain club, at a certain project.

‘One thing is to lead a team where I want to try to get the best results immediately. For a couple of years your leadership can be much more confrontational. It’s a completely different way to do it.

‘It’s one thing to have a relationship with my players that I know are going to be my players for a couple of years. Another thing is to educate players with a relationship and with an empathy that I’m sure is going to be for five, six, seven, eight years. Completely different.

‘I didn’t change, because I knew what I was doing when I did it. What I changed was my style, my way of being a coach and a manager.’

Perhaps he should have explained as much to Sir Alex earlier, then he might have made the United shortlist. If you were to isolate a single incident that might have cost Mourinho the chance of the United job, it is the image of him creeping up on Tito Vilanova and poking him in the eye in August 2011.

‘A Manchester Unitd manager wouldn’t do that,’ pronounced Sir Bobby Charlton last year. ‘He is a really good coach but that’s as far as I would go really. He pontificates too much for my liking.’