Premier League
TOTTENHAM 4 (Johnson 49, Solanke 75, 79, Maddison 90+6)
ASTON VILLA 1 (Rogers 31)
TOTTENHAM have put on a Jekyll and Hyde performance over the Halloween period.
At Crystal Palace last weekend they were monstrously bad, losing 1-0.
Today (Sunday), against high-flying Villa, they were avenging angels.
Four second-half goals from Brennan Johnson, a Dominic Solanke brace and a late James Maddison free-kick sent Aston Villa packing after the visitors had enjoyed a first-half lead via Morgan Rogers.
This was a ninth win in 11 games: the two defeats being at the hands of Brighton and Palace – games that Ange Postecoglou previously said were not a reason to panic.
The Spurs boss added today: “We did not have a great day last week [against Palace] but that did not mean we had fallen off a cliff. We fix our eyes on what we want to become, we don’t get carried away with last week and we don’t get carried away today.”
Postecoglou said that despite trailing at half-time, he felt his side were well equipped. “I said it isn’t about looking for excuses, it’s about looking for solutions,” he continued.
“We did that. Villa are a good side, consistent, we had to work hard. In the second half we stepped up a gear and there was only going to be one team that was going to win it.
“I was not happy being one down but I was happy with how we were going about things. It was about going up a notch and taking the game to them and seeing if they could cope. I felt there was energy in the room – the players could not wait to go out again.”
Villa are no slouches, having lost just once before all season. A win would have lifted them to third. It was obvious to see why they are doing so well in the opening period. Villa were solid.
Unai Emery told his team to be patient, let Spurs do what they wanted at arm’s length, and hurt them when the spaces opened up. It was a savvy away game where they did not force the pace.
Tottenham set out with determination, but they were slipshod creatively.
After a half-hour of Spurs failing to seriously trouble Emiliano Martinez, Villa probed. A Jacob Ramsey shot won a corner. It wasn’t cleared, and a second corner saw Rodrigo Bentancur and Pedro Porro play pinball before Rogers thumped in from close range.
Villa had been content to contain. But the goal felt like they had decided to stretch their legs.
While the weight of past disappointments was palpable, the moodiness on the terraces was swept away by an equaliser coming with enough time to go on and win it.
On 49 minutes, Heung-Min Son delivered an axe-swipe of a cross that knocked the Villa defence out with a clever trajectory. Johnson was on hand to finish.
Tetchiness crept in as Villa tried to slow things down, and Spurs retaliated. Porro earned a yellow for grappling Ollie Watkins. Cristian Romero was, as always, on hand to whip up drama, a hot-headed challenge on Rogers backfiring as the Tottenham defender limped away to join Micky van de Ven on the injury list.
On 74, his replacement, Ben Davies, won a terrific block tackle, and found Pape Matar Sarr ahead of him. An exchange of passes with Dejan Kulusevski resulted in Solanke breaking the lines, and the Spurs striker produced a chipped finish over the advancing Martinez.
Tottenham had pushed, pushed and pushed again – sometimes without cuteness, but never without determination – to find a winner. At 2-1, the lead was vulnerable. But instead of trying to switch to keep-ball, Spurs put distance between themselves and Villa.
On 79, Sarr motored forward again, Richarlison took it on and cut back into his strike partner’s path. Solanke needed no second asking to belt home.
Substitute James Maddison responded to being benched by curling a free-kick home in added-time.
Villa came with a solid game and it worked for 45 minutes. Last week at Palace, Spurs were a horror show. Today Postecoglou’s players offered action and adventure.
Tottenham: Vicario, Porro, Romero (Davies 61), Dragusin, Udogie (Gray, 82), Bentancur (Bissouma, 55), Sarr, Kulusevski, Johnson, Son (Richarlison, 55), Richarlison (Maddison, 80), Solanke
Substitutes not used: Forster, Bergvall, Werner, Moore