Arsenal beaten at struggling Boro

LONDON, England -- Premier League leaders Arsenal saw their unbeaten run come to a surprise end with a 2-1 defeat at struggling Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Stewart Downing with a fourth minute penalty and Turkish star Tuncay Sanli with 74th minute strike put Boro 2-0 ahead before Tomas Rosicky scored a consolation for the Gunners with the last kick of the match.

Defeat sees Arsenal remain a solitary point ahead of champions Manchester United with 37 points from 16 games. Middlesbrough leap out of the bottom three with their third Premier League victory of the season.

The result capped a miserable two trips to the north-east in five days for the Gunners, who were held 1-1 by Newcastle on Wednesday, and are clearly missing the influential midfielder Cesc Fabregas and other key players.

"We lost the game because we deserved to lose it," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It's that simple. Middlesbrough were sharper in the fight."

Arsenal had beaten Boro nine times in the last 12 matches but Gareth Southgate's men began at a high tempo and it paid off as early as the fourth minute when the recalled Gary O'Neil's ball sent Jeremie Aliadiere into the area and Kolo Toure clumsily brought down his former team-mate, who was going away from goal.

Referee Howard Webb rightly pointed to the spot and Downing applied just enough pace on his penalty to beat Manuel Almunia low to his left.

Arsenal's top scorer Emmanuel Adebayor went close to a quick equalizer but Middlesbrough could have had a freakish second when William Gallas' attempted clearance cannoned off Aliadiere but straight to Almunia.

Tuncay missed a great chance to put the home side further ahead five minutes after the restart when Tuncay screwed his shot wide with only Almunia to beat.

Boro were playing the more fluent football and 16 minutes from time scored again. A corner was not cleared properly and O'Neil's first-time shot was too hot for Almunia, whose parry was powered into the roof of the net by Tuncay, via a slight nick off Gallas.

Boro had the points in the bag long before Rosicky turned in Gael Clichy's cross deep into stoppage-time.

In other matches on Sunday, substitute Jermaine Defoe scored a late winner as Tottenham eased their relegation fears with a 2-1 win over Manchester City, who stay in sixth.

Defoe struck with seven minutes remaining at White Hart Lane after City's Rolando Bianchi had canceled out Pascal Chimbonda's controversial effort with his first goal since August.

Bolton also did their fight against the drop a power of good with a 4-1 home win over fellow strugglers Wigan. French star Nicolas Anelka scored for Bolton but also missed a first half penalty.

Sunday's late kick off saw Blackburn slip to a 1-0 home defeat to West Ham in a mid-table clash. Fit-again striker Dean Ashton scored a second half winner for the Hammers. E-mail to a friend