Good news is that Spurs garnered a well-deserved victory over Aston Villa in a place where Spurs have failed miserably in recent years, it was the first Spurs win in Villa Park since 2003. The bad news is that with the loss Villa continued their recent poor form and have slid to fifth in the EPL, allowing a resurgent Arsenal to gain the coveted fourth spot. Still, there's lots of football left to be played, so let's see if Martin O'Neill can find a way out of this rough spot.
On to the game itself, Spurs found themselves up a goal rather quickly as an Aaron Lennon cross into the box, but unfortunately goalie Brad Freidel didn't punch the ball out far enough, allowing an alert Jermaine Jenas to head the ball into the net in the fifth minute.
Villa regained their composure fairly quickly, and they had a lot of decent movement, getting a few good shots on goal, but for those were quickly neutralized by some good defense, some good goalkeeping, and the woodwork on one shot. However, Villa's Ashley Young was turning Didier Zokora around on the left side, leading Spurs coach to replace him in the 35th minute with Vedran Corluka, who did a better job keeping him in check.
Spurs put the game out of reach, for all effective purpose, early on in the second half when a Robbie Keane ball headed for the goal from the right side was tapped in by Darren Bent. It looked to me that the ball might have gone in anyway, but Bent did not do any harm by making sure of that fact.
That goal kind of shocked both the Villa team and fans, and for most of the rest of the second half, Spurs were the more confident side. However, the home side finally had something to cheer about in the 85th minute when John Carew out-leaped Jonathan Woodgate for a fine goal off of a long cross from near the right sideline. That galvanzing moment was not further capitalized upon though, and in the end once again, Spurs were clearly deserving of all three points.
Chelsea at White Hart Lane is up next, also on television, things are certainly looking up for Spurs at the moment as they move up the table and away from the relegation zone.
SOCCERNET , GUARDIAN REPORT
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