Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for his report:-

Sunday 3 November 2024, 2:00pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (0) 4 Aston Villa (1) 1

Spurs scorers:-
Johnson, 49
Solanke, 75, 79
Maddison, 90+6

Villa scorer:-
Rogers, 32

Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3):
1 G. Vicario; 23 Pedro Porro, 17 C Romero (33 B Davies 61), 6 R Dragusin 13 D Udogie (14 A Gray 82); 21 D Kulusevski, 30 R Bentancur (8 Y Bissouma 56), 29 P Sarr; 22 B Johnson, 19 D Solanke, 7 H-M Son Heung (c) ((9 Richarlison 56) (10 J Maddison 82))

Subs not used: 20 F Forster, 15 L Bergvall, 16 T Werner, 47 M Moore

Booked: Pedro Porro (54 foul on Watkins), 58 Romero (58 foul on Rogers)
Captain's armband: Son (Romero 56) (Vicario 61)

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Unai Emery
23 E Martinez; 2 M Cash (3 Diego Carlos 60), 4 E Konsa, 14 Pau Torres, 12 L Digne; 24 A Onana, 8 Y Tielemans (44 B Kamara 81); J McGinn (c) (31 L Bailey 81), 27 M Rogers (9 J Duran 69), 41 J Ramsey (19 J Philogene 81); 11 O Watkins Subs not used: 25 R Olsen, 5 T Mings, 22 I Maatsen, 10 E Buendia

No bookings
Captain's armband: McGinn (Martinez 81)

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Attendance: 61,253

Referee:- Craig Pawson
Assistants:- James Mainwaring, Wade Smith
Fourth official:- Peter Bankes
VAR:- David Coote
Assistant VAR:- Richard West

Spurs come back to score four against Villa and spoil Unai Emery's birthday

The first half was tight and Villa's goal was the only shot on target. Villa looked perhaps the better prospect for the second half. One thing we have learned in the Premier League this season is that Spurs' performance can fluctuate wildly between two halves of the same game. So it came to pass. Spurs were transformed in the second half, performed outstandingly though the win wasn't confirmed until the last fifteen minutes.

Postecoglou made four changes from the team which lost to Crystal Palace last weekend with Dragusin, Bentancur, Sarr and Son (the latter returning from injury) replacing van de Ven (injured), Bissouma, Maddison and Moore. Eight of the starting XI had also started the mid-week League Cup victory over Manchester City the exceptions being Porro, Udogie and Son.

Emery Unai fielded the same team which drew at home to Bournemouth last weekend. Aston Villa had been eliminated from the League Cup during the week when they lost 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace. Emery had sent out a weakened team in that game with the captain John McGinn being the only player who also started in the two Premier League games.

Both teams wore armbands in memory of the victims of the Spanish floods earlier this week.

Spurs had more possession in the first 25 minutes. However Villa maintained a tight formation. Spurs won a number of corners but didn't create real scoring opportunities. The closest they came was when Bentancur hit a rising shot from outside the box which hit the bar and went over.

Towards the half hour mark Villa had a period of dominance. Bentancur broke up a Villa counter-attack with a good tackle. Then a shot from Ramsey was deflected for a corner. Prior to the corner some Villa players crowded around Vicario. Onana got his head to the corner and Vicario made a diving save at his left post.

A minute later Villa won another corner and again blocked Vicario. The corner was sent to the near post. Vicario got a hand on it but could only parry it within the box and it fell to Rogers who scored with a shot. The ball had hit both Porro and Bentancur earlier in the passage of play.

It was a disappointing goal to concede for two reasons. It was the fourth goal that Spurs have conceded from set pieces this season - a known weakness. This was Spurs fourteenth Premier League game at home during 2024. They have conceded the opening goal in twelve matches. While they have won eight and lost four of those matches, a team which aspires to finish in the top four of the league shouldn't have to work so hard to win at home.

Each team had an opportunity before the break. Watkins rounded Romero before shooting wide and Bentancur had another long-range effort like the previous one but again too high. The goal was the only shot on target during the first half

Neither manager made any changes at half-time.

Spurs showed a definite improvement after the break. Within a couple of minutes Son made a good run down the left and sent a cross towards the far post. Johnson was being watched by two Villa defenders but eluded them to score with a shot close to the near post.

Soon after Son passed inside to Udogie who set up Solanke whose shot was saved by Martinez. Villa were showing concern. Although there were still 40 minutes on the clock Martinez was seen to be taking his time in restarting the game after the ball had gone out of play. (Ed:- In fact the crowd had been baiting Martinez over slow play from the outset)

Porro received the first booking shortly after for a foul on Watkins though several players could consider themselves lucky not to have ended up in the referee's notebook in the first half.

Postecoglou made his first substitutions after 56 minutes with Bissouma and Richarlison replacing Bentancur and Son. The Son substitution was surprising. Son had created two good opportunities already in the second half. The player looked perplexed to be replaced. It wasn't a tactical substitution and Postecoglou was surely resting a player who had only recently returned from injury and may be required against Galatasaray in Turkey on Thursday.

Romero put in a fairly heavy tackle on Rogers. Both players were injured. Romero was booked and unable to continue because of a sore foot. He was replaced by Davies whose first Premier League appearance this season it was and the centre-back pairing now consisted of the second-string players.

With a quarter of the game remaining, Emery replaced the goal scorer Rogers with his "super-sub" Jhon Duran who had scored four goals in his nine Premier League appearances this season averaging a goal every 58 minutes, but it wasn't to be his day.

After seventy-four minutes there had only been three shots, an additional one from Spurs in addition to the goals scored and the result was still not certain. Then Spurs transformed the game.

Davies intercepted a Villa counter-attack on the half way line. Sarr continued the move before Kulusevski's crucial intervention set Solanke up just inside the box. He scored with a chipped shot over Martinez, his first goal since the end of September at Old Trafford. He hadn't had a shot on target in the last three Premier League games.

Minutes later Torres made a poor pass out from the back. Richarlison on the left passed to Sarr who moved the ball on to Solanke who notched his second goal with another shot, the first time he has scored two goals for Spurs in a match. He has now scored four goals in four Premier League appearances against Aston Villa the most goals any player has scored during Emery Unai's tenure.

Emery responded with a triple substitution - Bailey, Kamara and Philogene replacing McGinn, Tielemans and Ramsey. Like Lopetegui's triple change for West Ham a couple of weeks ago it took place after the damage had been done.

Around the same time Richarlison injured his hamstring. He left the pitch in tears. As he was departing he was consoled by Lucas Digne his former Everton team mate - a nice gesture. James Maddison replaced Richarlison and Archie Gray came on for Udogie at the same time.

Spurs were in control for the remainder of the game. There were ten added minutes with gave Villa hope but Spurs were never threatened.

The main incident in the time added on came when Diego Carlos tackled Solanke who felt that it was overly aggressive. They confronted each other though neither was booked. Spurs were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Maddison took the kick and curved a lovely shot round the outside of the wall which entered the net at the near corner.

It was his 50th Premier League goal in his 201st appearance in the competition none of which have been headers. He is the fifth player in Premier League history to reach 50 goals without scoring a header, after Thierry Henry, Kevin De Bruyne, Damien Duff and Peter Beardsley.

The win lifts Spurs to seventh in the table only two points behind, Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa and with a better goal difference. Spurs have won five of their ten league games scoring eighteen goals alone in those five matches. In the other five league games they have only scored four goals but have still scored 22 goals, the most by any team in the Premier League so far this season, one more than Manchester City.

This was a very good win against a team which had only lost one Premier League game this season. Today was Emery Unai's 53rd birthday and he received an unwanted present with four goals conceded to add to the previous four at Villa Park last March.

The biggest concern was that Romero went off injured so now the first-choice centre backs are both out. Davies and Dragusin were solid for 30 minutes they played together. Archie Gray can also be used in this position. There will be an international break in a week's time. Hopefully both van de Ven and Romero will be back no later than the end of the break.

If Spurs can be more consistent in the Premier League they can still have a successful Premier League season. There are two more matches before the next international break. On Thursday they face Galatasaray in Turkey which is likely to be the most challenging fixture of the Europa League qualifying stage. On Sunday they will hopefully consolidate the Premier League position in a home game against Ipswich Town.

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