Tottenham Hotspur look set to fight it out with Aston Villa for a place in the Premier League top four once again this season, but the Lilywhites have not made an ideal start to the season.
Tottenham vs Aston Villa in the race for top four
The Villans came into the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon with a five-point lead over Ange Postecoglou’s men.
In true Spurs fashion, the Lilywhites gave Crystal Palace their very first win of the season last weekend, only to follow that up with a Carabao Cup win over Pep Guardiola’s unbeaten Man City.
Let’s take a look at our half-time player ratings from Tottenham vs Aston Villa:
Tottenham vs Aston Villa half-time player ratings
Guglielmo Vicario: Made an important save on the half-hour mark to deny Onana but seconds later, he was bullied at a corner which led to Rogers’ easiest goal of his life. Didn’t have boatloads to do, otherwise. 4.
Pedro Porro: Due to Postecoglou’s more defensive approach in midfield today, Porro found himself a lot higher up the pitch than he has in recent weeks. Defensively, though, he struggled to deal with Ramsey and he wasn’t massively impressive going forward either. 5.
Cristian Romero: Comfortable on the ball throughout and played plenty of his trademark line-breaking passes that aided Spurs’ attack. 6.
MORE SPURS STORIES
Radu Dragusin: Filling the boots of Micky van de Ven is no simple task, however the Romanian was strong and was often able to halt any Villa counters. 7.
Destiny Udogie: Left a late tackle on Matty Cash early on that was well-received amongst the Spurs supporters. Supported Son constantly with underlapping runs that proved troubling for the Villa defence. Overall, a really promising display. 8.
Rodrigo Bentancur: Operating in a double pivot alongside Sarr, Spurs’ number 30 looked composed and comfortable on the ball as always. You could tell the Uruguayan was really up for this one, as a strong challenge flew in from him on more than one occasion. 8.
Pape Sarr: Preferred to James Maddison today, the Senegalese looked to build on a goal and a solid performance in midweek. Sarr linked up really well with Son on Spurs’ left side throughout, although you could argue he was too easily bypassed by Onana on multiple occasions. 7.
Dejan Kulusevski: The Swede was gifted the role of Spurs’ main creator and was incredibly bright for the majority of the opening forty-five. He won back possession high up the pitch more than once and certainly troubled the Villa defence. However, it must be said that a lot of the riskier passes he attempted weren’t often completed. 7.
Brennan Johnson: The Welshman made an abundance of enticing runs into the channel, persistently looking to be a threat. Unfortunately though, he created no real clear cut chances. 6.
Dominic Solanke: He led the press phenomenally for Spurs, but he didn’t have any real chances. 5.