That’s all from me. Bye! Here’s a farewell gift, in the shape of Ben Fisher’s match report from Villa Park:
This week James Maddison enjoyed going head to head against his Tottenham teammate Micky van de Ven in a darts challenge with elite players Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall and the Spurs No10 stepped up to the oche here to twist a cagey contest into their favour. By the end, however, Tottenham were able to revel in a comprehensive evisceration of 10-man Aston Villa.
When the fourth official, Darren Bond, indicated 10 minutes of second-half stoppage time, it spelled bad news for Villa, at that point 2-0 and a man down. Then Son Heung-min got in on the act, adding Spurs’ third in consummate style, and the substitute Timo Werner completed the rout, side-footing in.
Much more here:
Attention is inevitably switching to Anfield, and Will Unwin is manning the controls for Liverpool v Manchester City:
Spurs apparently celebrated very loudly when they got back to their changing room. “You hear the celebration because we work all week, we come here with a gameplan and we come away with three points,” James Maddison says. “The gaffer’s teamtalk [at half-time] was keep it the same, because the last 10 minutes [of the first half] they started to tire. I felt we were in control. The red card helps us have control of the game but before that we had a two-goal cushion and we blew them away in the second half.”
Final score: Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham
90+11 mins: It’s all over! A punishing defeat for Villa, a brilliant win for Spurs, and the fight for fourth is emphatically on!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 28 | 46 | 64 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 27 | 39 | 63 |
| 3 | Man City | 27 | 35 | 62 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 28 | 18 | 55 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 27 | 20 | 53 |
90+10 mins: Spurs appear to think they have scored enough now, and Villa had had enough a long time ago.
90+8 mins: Son is down, after running into Diego Carlos’s shoulder. VAR checks for a possible red card, but dismisses the idea.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham (Werner, 90+5 mins)
Villa have completely given up now. Spurs play around them like training cones, Son running down the left of the area and pulling back for Werner to sidefoot across goal and in!
Updated
90+2 mins: Son is played through on the right, but his early shot never looks good enough to beat Martinez.
90+2 mins: There’s going to be 10 minutes of stoppage time, and possibly more even than that because of that goal.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-3 Tottenham (Son, 90+1 mins)
Three goals and three points for Spurs! It comes through Kulusevski on the right, who has been excellent in the second half, and he picks out Son with a pass into the box, and the finish is brutal!
Updated
90 mins: Son’s low ball towards Werner is intercepted by Diego Carlos but falls to Kulusevski, but the Villa defender is up smartly to block the shot.
87 mins: Spurs make a double substitution, replacing the two goalscorers, Maddison and Johnson, with Werner and Hojbjerg.
87 mins: Vicario recovers from that knock but the next time the ball comes into the box he comes out, catches, hits the ball into his own foot and loses it again. Spurs clear.
85 mins: Diego Carlos comes on for Konsa.
84 mins: Villa win a corner, which comes off a head in the middle and goes to Zaniolo at the far post. Vicario throws himself at the situation, which stops the ball going into his goal but means Zaniolo lands on his head.
80 mins: The game has frayed and tempers have snapped. Villa seem only to want to win free-kicks and coax bookings. Kulusevski’s excellent cross finds Johnson in space beyond the far post, but he’s closed down before he can produce a shot.
77 mins: Watkins goes down but the referee doesn’t give the foul, and to a soundtrack of crowd fury Kulusevski goes on a slow run down the right, fending off a variety of attempted fouls by annoyed Villa players, like a slow-motion Caniggia against Cameroon only without the comedy payoff. At the end of it he just gives the ball away.
75 mins: A Spurs break, and Kulusevski cuts in from the right into the middle. Son is to his left, in plenty of space, making all sorts of “pass to me” shapes but Kulusevski instead bashes a shot way over the bar, and Son does a massive comedy strop.
73 mins: Spurs win the ball in the Villa half again. Son plays in Kulusevski to his right (Johnson to his left looked the better bet), who could have shot first-time but doesn’t, check back, passes back to Son, and the chance is frittered away.
70 mins: Spurs bring Bentancur on for Sarr.
69 mins: Tim Iroegbunam replaces the disappointing Bailey as Villa reorganise.
67 mins: After being taken out Udogie leaps to his feet, goes to confront McGinn, then decides he’s probably better off writhing around in agony, so goes back down and does a bit of that. I don’t think that can have influenced the referee much – the initial challenge was eyecatching enough. He’s supported by a few teammates, and McGinn confronts Maddison and has to be pulled away by Unai Emery.
John McGinn is sent off! Villa go down to 10 men!
66 mins: It’s a terrible tackle from McGinn on Udogie, spiteful and late. It doesn’t look particularly violent or dangerous, but it’s ugly and the referee doesn’t like it one bit.
Updated
65 mins: A chance for Villa, but Vicario does well to get down and stop the low cross.
63 mins: Villa play the ball through to Diaby, who is one of four offside players. David Bertram emailed in the first half to say that “we look spent with the large number of injuries looking like it’s taking it’s toll” but I didn’t use it because they immediately produced their best spell of the game. Turns out he might have been right after all.
61 mins: McGinn wins a free-kick – it’s hard to see where the foul was – and tries to take it quickly again, and Dragusin tries to stop him. The Spurs substitute is booked.
59 mins: McGinn releases Bailey down the right with a quick free-kick, but with three teammates to aim for in the box he finds the nearest defender with a cross that can only be described as rubbish.
57 mins: Villa roll the dice. Several dice. Tielemens, Digne and Lenglet go off, and Moreno, Diaby and Zaniolo come on.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Tottenham (Johnson, 53 mins)
And another one! This is disastrous from Villa: Konsa carries the ball into midfield and promptly passes it straight to Kulusevski and suddenly Spurs are three on one. Son plays it through to Johnson, who buries the chance!
Updated
52 mins: Son prods the ball to Maddison on the edge of the area, and his excellent dummy would have allowed Udogie to run clear had he predicted that it might happen.
51 mins: VAR has a lengthy look at the goal, to ascertain whether Sarr was offside when played through, but he was not.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Tottenham (Maddison, 50 mins)
Spurs take the lead! Sarr is played down the right, and he produces a killer cross to pick out Maddison, who has a defender a yard to his right and another a yard to his left and neither of them can do anything about it!
Updated
49 mins: It was Van de Ven who blocked that Bailey shot, at full stretch. Dragusin’s warm-up suggests there was already an issue.
48 mins: Van de Ven has gone down, and Dragusin is now getting ready to come on.
47 mins: Bailey is played in, but his shot deflects wide and he is anyway offside.
46 mins: McGinn releases Cash down the right, but instead of crossing he cuts onto his left foot and shoots into a defender. In the middle, Watkins waves his arms in disgust.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Villa get the game restarted.
The players are back out and ready for more. Radu Dragusin spent half-time warming up but at the end of it he has resumed his place on the bench.
“Forty-five minutes of pig in the middle and without a shot on goal,” writes Nikola Stojkovic. “Sometimes it looks like the players are playing chess instead of football. This is not what football should be, Simon.” It’s not been anti-football. I’m not angry about it. I am a little disappointed. Villa have prioritised defence over reliable production of chances, and Spurs don’t look good enough to play their way through it. I still think goals are coming.
Half time: Aston Villa 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
45+2 mins: It’s half-time, and it has not been the chance-heavy goalfest I had anticipated.
45+1 mins: Close! The ball is worked back to McGinn, who whips in a delicious cross that is just behind Digne, and at an inconvenient height, and he sends it looping just wide of the far post, possibly with his shoulder rather than his head.
45 mins: Watkins gets into the box. The Villa Park crowd roars. He cuts onto his right foot, and for a moment the net looks ready to bulge. But Romero pushes back a leg to block the shot, and Villa will have to content themselves with a corner.
43 mins: Emi Martinez has something on target to deal with, though Brennan Johnson was definitely trying to cross.
40 mins: Spurs are yet to have a shot of any sort, and neither keeper has had a shot on target to deal with.
39 mins: The third phase of this game has been less eventful than the first (Spurs pressing hard, Villa looking crumbly) and the second (Villa find their feet and start to look threatening).
35 mins: A penalty shout, as Bailey takes on Bissouma and ends up on the turf. It wasn’t clear though to what extent Bissouma caused the fall, and to what extend Bailey just got his feet in a muddle, and at some point Bissouma definitely kicked the ball. Play on.
33 mins: Son tries to beat Konsa in a foot-race, fails, so falls over. The referee is being a little inconsistent with his decision-making, rewarding enough obvious dives to keep players obviously diving, but by no means all of them.
30 mins: Villa are still getting themselves in godawful muddles in their attempts to pass the ball out of defence.
28 mins: No goal here yet, but Villa’s near-neighbours West Brom have just produced a fabulous thunderbastard, to go 3-1 up at Huddersfield.
Wow! 😲
— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) March 10, 2024
That is special, @Okayokuslu 🤩#EFL | @WBA pic.twitter.com/SJRxeP1ggZ
26 mins: Which reminds me that I didn’t tell you about Pape Sarr getting booked for fouling Tielemans a while back.
25 mins: Handbags! Or at least purses! Maddison and Douglas Luiz square up to each other; the referee tells them to calm down.
25 mins: Bailey wins the ball in the Spurs half, but then isn’t sure what to do with it so decides to fall over. The referee doesn’t buy it.
23 mins: Villa win a corner, which they send towards a cluster of players gathered around Vicario. It’s headed clear.
22 mins: After a very poor opening Villa have settled and are doing quite a lot of attacking, largely through Cash on the right.
Updated
19 mins: … and Villa break. A lovely touch from McGinn gets them going, and then Watkins is played through, just to the left of goal. He runs into the area and then instead of shooting bizarrely tries to square to Bailey and Romero intercepts. He was anyway offside.
Updated
18 mins: Cash gives away a free kick on the Villa right. Porro curls it in, Lenglet heads it out.
15 mins: Bissouma gives the ball away to Watkins with a terrible pass not far outside the Spurs penalty area, and he passes on to Tielemans, whose shot is straight into a defender.
12 mins: It looks like Watkins is going to pull through. He celebrates by kicking Romero.
11 mins: Villa are letting Spurs pass the ball across their own backline, and the contrast between the two presses is the game’s notable feature thus far.
9 mins: Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually they get a free kick. Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually they get another free kick, when really Bissouma pretty cleanly dispossessed mcGinn. They need to deal with this problem pretty smartly.
9 mins: Watkins still isn’t moving well. He’s trying to run it off, but hasn’t succeeded yet.
7 mins: Spurs attack now, but the final cross from the right lands on the roof of the net.
5 mins: Watkins runs clear, and as he gets into the area he’s absolutely steamrollered by Van de Ven! The referee isn’t remotely interested – Van de Ven benefited from a poor touch from Watkins, got to the ball first and tried to boot it into touch, but he very nearly missed it entirely, getting only a minor connection on the ball and a major connection with the Villa striker in his follow-through. Watkins requires some treatment.
4 mins: Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually the ball goes out for a goal kick. Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually they win a free-kick. Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, and eventually the ball goes out for a throw-in.
Updated
2 mins: Villa have sprung a surprise back five on us. They’re also currently taking a spectacular amount of time over a throw-in.
1 min: Peeeeep! Spurs get the game started.
Preambles and precursors almost complete. Before kick-off, a minute’s applause for Chris Nicholl, who died last month.
The players are in the tunnel! “Although it is rather unlikely, Villa still have to play the clubs above them in the table, so if Liverpool and City draw, and then Arsenal and City draw and Villa win all their remaining games for a maximum of 88 points, they could snatch the title at the death assuming the others drop a few more points along the way,” writes Rick Harris. “Not saying they are in the tile race at the moment but win today and they might end up two or even three points closer to third place.” This is all true, and also spectacularly and deliciously optimistic.
Unai Emery is jolly excited. He talks a lot about opportunities:
At the moment they have one match in hand but we are more or less together and we have to try to show our potential, our capacity against this team. This is the opportunity we have.
Ange Pestecoglu meanwhile looks pretty glum and spends his entire interview looking at his shoes.
It’s a big game, a team that’s directly above us in the table and they’re a good side but it is one of 12, there’s still plenty of football to be played.
“So happy to have these two games today,” writes Will Oliver. “Villa fan since 1992 when we first got those weekly EPL highlights here in the US. We finished second to Man U and it’s been mediocre stuff since then. But Emery is such a positive guy, the team is so happy and eager. I don’t care if we finish fourth or fifth, it’s been such a joyful ride this year. Got me through some rough moments. And then Man City v Liverpool? Not a bad Sunday.” That’s the kind of sunny attitude I’m looking for, Will.
It’s a wet afternoon in Birmingham, and Ange Pestecoglu doesn’t look terribly excited to be there.
Inevitably, Sky’s build-up to this match has entirely consisted of discussing the game at Anfield that follows it.
The teams
The teams have been named, and here are those names:
Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Torres, Lenglet, Cash, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Digne, Bailey, Tielemans, Watkins. Subs: Diego Carlos, Alex Moreno, Diaby, Zaniolo, Duran, Olsen, Rogers, Kesler-Hayden, Iroegbunam.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski, Maddison, Johnson, Son. Subs: Hojbjerg, Dragusin, Emerson, Werner, Lo Celso, Bentancur, Davies, Austin, Scarlett.
Referee: Christopher Kavanagh.
Your Super Sunday Aston Villa team! 👊 pic.twitter.com/MrqpDcKp4i
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 10, 2024
Up the Spurs! 🤍 pic.twitter.com/l0rAHz53xY
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 10, 2024
Preamble
Hello world! There’s an absolutely massive game this afternoon which is inevitably overshadowing everything else, but on any ordinary Sunday this would be a key and deliciously juicy fixture: two great, big clubs with recently barren trophy cabinets fighting for a chance to play in Europe’s premier competition next season. A home win would take Villa, currently fourth, eight points clear of Spurs in fifth (who would have a game in hand, to be fair), a gap that with 10 (or 11) games remaining looks genuinely daunting.
Promising signs, for the neutral: Ollie Watkins has seven goals in his last six league games and Villa’s last seven domestic fixtures (there was an inconvenient goalless draw at Ajax in midweek which we’ll overlook) have seen an average of 4.3 goals each; Spurs last kept a clean sheet against a team that isn’t Burnley way back in December and since their superb early-season form fell apart on Halloween (or thereabouts) have managed only two. There will, surely, be goals. (If the season started on 1 November Spurs would have played 16 league matches, winning 24 points and just once away, and sit ninth; Villa would have played 17, won 33 points, and still be fourth).
Here’s Ben Fisher’s thing to look out for in this game:
When the team news dropped 75 minutes before kick-off at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Thursday, it offered a major indication of Unai Emery’s thinking and quite how significantly he views Tottenham’s visit to Villa Park on Sunday. John McGinn, the captain, in-form forward Leon Bailey and full-backs Matty Cash and Alex Moreno began the game on the bench, with 20-year-old midfielder Tim Iroegbunam given his second start, almost two years after his full debut. Spurs trail fourth-placed Villa by five points but have a game in hand so a home victory would establish a welcome buffer between them and their nearest challengers for a Champions League place. Villa won the reverse fixture in November courtesy of Pau Torres and Ollie Watkins goals and a repeat would be priceless.
Anyway, welcome! Here’s to a fun one.
