LONDON — Fulham squandered an opportunity to escape the Premier League relegation zone Saturday after going down 3-1 at London rival Tottenham Hotspur.



Felix Magath’s improving side had won its two previous games and it reacted impressively after falling behind to a close-range Paulinho strike in the 35th minute, with Steve Sidwell equalizing almost immediately.



However, second-half goals from Harry Kane and Younes Kaboul secured victory for Tim Sherwood’s Spurs, with Sidwell seeing a late penalty saved by Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.



Defeat left Fulham two points from safety, ahead of a home game with Hull City next weekend.



“If we had got any points here, it would have been an extra point for us,” said Fulham manager Magath.



“We have to win our home games and I think we can manage it.”



Sixth-place Spurs closed to within four points of the Champions League places, although they have played a game more than both fourth-place Arsenal and fifth-place Everton.



With leader Liverpool not in action until Sunday, when they visit Norwich, Chelsea can provisionally take over at the top of the table if it wins at home to bottom club Sunderland in Saturday’s late game.



Fulham slipped one place to 19th after Cardiff City moved above it on goal difference by drawing 1-1 at home to Stoke City.



Marko Arnautovic gave Stoke the lead from the penalty spot in first-half injury time after Kim Bo-kyung was contentiously adjudged to have tripped Peter Odemwingie.



However, Peter Whittingham equalized with a penalty of his own after Steven Nzonzi tripped Fraizer Campbell, and Cardiff might even have won, only for a Juan Cala effort to be ruled out for offside.



Elsewhere, an ice-cool stoppage-time penalty by Wilfried Bony gave Swansea City a 2-1 victory at Newcastle United that took the Welsh club six points clear of the relegation zone.



Bony had earlier scored with a header to cancel out Shola Ameobi’s 23rd-minute opener for the home side.



Aston Villa spurned a chance to put clear daylight between itself and the bottom three after being held to a 0-0 draw at home to Southampton that left Paul Lambert’s side five points above the drop zone.



In the day’s other fixture, a 59th-minute Mile Jedinak penalty saw Crystal Palace win 1-0 at West Ham United, completing a sequence of five successive top-flight wins for the first time since December 1992.



Bayern grinds out 2-0 win



Bayern Munich ground out a hard-fought 2-0 victory over bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig Saturday to end the champion’s three-game winless streak in the Bundesliga.



Claudio Pizarro broke the deadlock in the 79th minute, when Mario Goetze sent the Peruvian through, and Mario Mandzukic secured the win with three minutes remaining as the home side pushed for an equalizer.



Bayern coach Pep Guardiola had started his strongest available side to fine tune for Wednesdays’ Champions League semifinal first leg at Real Madrid.



Second-place Borussia Dortmund defeated visiting Mainz 4-2, and Freiburg took a giant step in its fight against relegation by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach by the same score.



Werder Bremen came from behind to beat Hoffenheim 3-1 and Augsburg drew 0-0 with Hertha Berlin.



Atletico closes in on title



Atletico Madrid took another step toward its first La Liga title for 18 years as two goals in the last 20 minutes handed it a 2-0 win over Elche at the Vicente Calderon Friday.



After a poor opening period from the host, it wasted a great chance to go in front 10 minutes after the break as David Villa’s penalty was saved by Manu Herrera.



The league leader did eventually make the breakthrough 19 minutes from time when Miranda headed home Jose Sosa’s cross and Diego Costa converted a second Atletico penalty of the night late on after Christian Sapunaru was sent-off for Elche.



Victory moves Atletico six points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table and within three wins of sealing the title.



Los Rojiblancos’ attention now turns to facing Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal Tuesday.



Klopp dismisses Barca rumors



Borussia Dortmund’s charismatic coach Jurgen Klopp has poured cold water on rumors linking him to Spanish giant Barcelona with the 46-year-old insisting he is happy where he is.



Klopp, whose present contract ties him to the German side until 2018, has enjoyed great success steering Dortmund to back-to-back German league titles in 2011 and 2012, plus last season’s Champions League final. It is currently a distant second in the Bundesliga. — Agencies