Emery Schooled By Ange

It was meant to be a competitive match at Villa Park in a huge six-pointer regarding the Top 4 race. Aston Villa started the day with a chance to go eight points clear of Tottenham Hotspur, which would have been a huge step towards finishing fourth for the Birmingham based outfit. Going into the game, John McGinn considered the game “the most important game in the club’s recent history”. It was up to Tottenham to spoil the day for them, which they did in style.

The first half was very evenly contested, and a bit of a dull, cagey affair. Villa had two shots, and Tottenham had a singular shot, with all three of the shots being off target. Just five minutes into the second half Pape Matar Sarr played a pinpoint cross into the penalty box for James Maddison to bundle home, and a few minutes after that Brennan Johnson doubled the lead with an emphatic finish past Emiliano Martinez following a sloppy Konsa pass. 

Frustration was growing for the hosts as they played dirty, putting in rough tackles – especially Cash and McGinn, with the latter being sent off for a reckless and dangerous swipe at Destiny Udogie with zero intention to play the ball whatsoever. It was a blatant red card which added to Villa’s woes.

Tottenham were in dreamland going into added time, as the captain Son Heung-Min fired a powerful shot past Martinez following good link up play between Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski, and the South Korean star set up Timo Werner who scored with a smart first time finish. That is goals in consecutive games for Werner, who is looking like a potential bargain at the moment. 

It was not just the goals that were impressive from Tottenham’s point of view. The defensive performances were all commendable, Guglielmo Vicario making some good stops and claims throughout the match, but he had relatively little to do overall – and that was courtesy of the defensive unit. Van De Ven outpaced Watkins and Bailey during his time on the pitch, before he went off injured to be replaced by Romanian centre-half Radu Dragusin, who deputised well for the Dutchman. Romero, Bissouma, Sarr, Udogie and Porro all assisted the defensive cause strongly to preserve a clean sheet and frustrate Villa.

Tottenham still remain in 5th place and behind Aston Villa in the league, however the gap is just two points where it could have been eight, and Tottenham do have a game in hand. The top 4 race just got really interesting.