Tottenham maintained their unbeaten run in the Premiership as a single Simon Davies goal proved enough for victory over Charlton at The Valley.

The Welsh midfielder broke the deadlock as early as the eighth minute and Spurs did just enough to hold on for the win.

Davies came close to making it two on the hour mark but his appeals for a penalty were turned down.

The victory for Spurs was enough to lift them to second in the Premiership table behind champions Arsenal.

They achieved a deserved win despite the absence of injured stars Darren Anderton, Gustavo Poyet, Ledley King and Stephen Carr.

As in Charlton's last home game against Chelsea, when he opened the scoring and was dismissed within 25 minutes, Paul Konchesky was in the thick of the action from the start.

This time, a late challenge on Davies earned the England Under-21 international a yellow card from referee Alan Wiley just 120 seconds in.

Davies, however, provided a telling intervention of his own as the midfielder put the visitors in front from a passing move of high quality.

After only eight minutes, Christian Ziege played the ball inside to Davies who started and finished a delightful one-two with Teddy Sheringham before smashing the ball into the roof of the net.

Radostin Kishishev had the best early chance for Charlton and blasted the ball from distance.

But Kasey Keller reacted quickly to hold onto the ball to his left.

Kishishev's effort kicked the Addicks into life but their other close effort of the half - a Claus Jensen free-kick - went just wide.

Spurs remained the stronger after the interval but neither side continuously threatened in the final quarter of the field.

Davies came close to repeating his first-half efforts but was halted in the box after 60 minutes.

He went down just inside the area under the challenge of the onrushing Dean Kiely, who missed the ball and made minimal contact with the man.

Referee Wiley adjudged that Davies had made the most of the situation and booked him for diving.

Seconds later, Keller produced the stop of the night at the other end to turn aside a stinging drive from Jason Euell.

The ever-alert Sheringham fashioned a chance for Matthew Etherington with 20 minutes left but the former Peterborough youngster sliced over the top from 10 yards.

Charlton, meanwhile, failed to conjure another opportunity and the majority of the final 10 minutes served as keep-ball practice for the visitors.

Charlton: Kiely, Young, Rufus, Fortune (Brown 71), Powell, Kishishev (Robinson 65), Jensen, Bart-Williams, Konchesky, Johansson (Svensson 54), Euell.
Subs Not Used: Rachubka, Lisbie.

Booked: Konchesky.

Tottenham: Keller, Taricco, Gardner, Richards, Ziege, Davies, Redknapp, Bunjevcevic, Etherington, Sheringham, Doherty (Ferdinand 78).
Subs Not Used: Hirschfeld, Rebrov, Thatcher, Acimovic.

Booked: Davies, Bunjevcevic.

Attendance: 26,461.

Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).