Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko celebrates scoring the only goal against Rubin Kazan.

Story highlights

Tottenham remain unbeaten in the Europa League after a 1-0 home victory over Rubin Kazan

Stoke and Birmingham also lead their groups after wins on a good night for English sides

PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon and Anderlecht are the teams with three wins from three

CNN  — 

Roman Pavlyuchenko scored the only goal of the game against his Russian compatriots to give Tottenham a 1-0 win over Rubin Kazan and retain their unbeaten record in Europa League Group A on Thursday.

Pavlyuchenko fired home a superb 25-yard free-kick in the 33rd minute to give Spurs the narrowest of victories on another good night for English clubs in the competition.

It sees Tottenham top the table on seven points after three games, with Greeks PAOK Salonika second on five points after a 2-1 success over bottom side Shamrock Rovers, who are still pointless.

Birmingham City and Stoke City also top their groups after wins on Thursday. Birmingham, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, are level at the top of Group H with six points alongside Bruges, after a superb 2-1 win in the Belgian city.

New Zealand international Chris Wood netted an injury time winner to complete a superb comeback for the visitors, who had fallen behind in just the third minute.

Sporting Braga are third in the group on four points after a 1-1 draw at bottom side Maribor.

Meanwhile, in Group E, three first-half goal saw Stoke comfortably defeat Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-0, although both sides finished the game with 10 men. Stoke head the table with seven points, while Dynamo Kiev are second on five points after a 1-0 victory over Besiktas.

Fulham were the only English side not to win, after the 2010 finalists were beaten 1-0 at Wisla Krakow in Group K.

Scotland’s only representatives Celtic came back from conceding a comical own goal by Cha Du Ri to earn a 1-1 draw at French side Rennes in Group I.

However, both those two sides remain without a win on two points, with Italian side Udinese setting the pace on seven points after defeating Atletico Madrid 2-0.

In Group J, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar netted twice as leaders Schalke swamped Cypriot side AEK Larnaca 5-0 away while Maccabi Haifa inflicted the same scoreline on former European champions Steaua Bucharest and lie just a point behind the Germans in second place.

Meanwhile, three teams still have 100% records after three matches. In Group C, Dutch side PSV Eindhoven beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 in Israel and lead Legia Warsaw of Poland – who also won 1-0 against Rapid Bucharest – by three points.

Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon are running away at the top of Group D. Their 2-0 home win over FC Vaslui of Romania means they are the only side in the group with a victory to their name.

Lazio and Zurich drew 1-1 in the other match, meaning Sporting are seven points clear of the other three teams in the group.

The other 100% side are Belgian giants Anderlecht who are five points clear in Group L after winning 2-0 at Sturm Graz.