Tottenham strengthened their pursuit of Champions League football with a convincing 4-0 win at 10-man Aston Villa. Find all the Aston Villa vs Tottenham stats from Opta on this page.
Tottenham strengthened their pursuit of Champions League football with a convincing 4-0 win at 10-man Aston Villa on Sunday, handing Unai Emery his biggest ever home defeat in the Premier League.
Second-half goals from James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Son Heung-Min and Timo Werner saw Ange Postecoglou’s side ease to victory against an insipid Villa, who had John McGinn sent off just after the hour mark.
With the Premier League’s chances of securing a Champions League spot for fifth place going down last week – according to the Opta supercomputer – the game at Villa Park felt even more important to both sides, as well as the chasing Manchester United.
There were few notable moments in an eventless opening 45 minutes that didn’t see a single shot on target from either team. Tottenham’s one shot was their fewest in the first half of a Premier League game since this exact fixture in May last year (0).
Aston Villa had a couple of penalty shouts, with Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey both felled by Micky van de Ven and Yves Bissouma in the area in separate incidents, though in both cases the Spurs players got enough of a touch on the ball for the claims to be waved away.
The visitors saw most of the ball in the opening period, making 281 accurate passes to Villa’s 105, but Emery’s team matched Tottenham up out of possession well and kept Son, Dejan Kulusevski and Maddison quiet.
Spurs suffered an early blow in the second half when Van de Ven was forced off through injury, though moments later they were ahead when Pape Sarr raced away down the right and put a perfect cross in for Maddison, who couldn’t miss.
Postecoglou’s side doubled their lead just three minutes later when Kulusevski picked Youri Tielemans’ pocket before Son found Johnson for another simple finish past Emiliano Martínez.
McGinn made his team’s job even harder in the 65th minute after a cynical foul on Destiny Udogie saw the Scotland international shown a straight red card, the first of his career.
Spurs captain Son added another in the first minute of stoppage time after Kulusevski found him with a low ball from the right, allowing the South Korea international to smash in a third, while Werner also got in on the act shortly after coming on as a late substitute to wrap things up.
Villa managed just one shot on target, their fewest in any game this season, and though they remain fourth they sit just two points ahead of Spurs, who still have a game in hand.
As a result of this win, Tottenham are now favourites for the top four according to the Opta supercomputer, who had Villa in front before kick-off. It now projects Spurs finish fourth in 53.6% of scenarios, compared to 40.3% for Aston Villa.
Aston Villa vs Tottenham Stats: Post-Match Facts
- This was Unai Emery’s joint-heaviest home defeat as a manager, with today’s 0-4 scoreline in charge of Aston Villa equalling a 5-1 loss against Dinamo Moscow in the Russian Premier League in November 2012 (while in charge of Spartak Moscow).
- Unai Emery suffered his first Premier League defeat against Spurs, having been unbeaten across his first six against them in the competition (W4 D2), and winning his first three while in charge of current club Aston Villa.
- This was Spurs’ first away win against a team starting the day above them in the Premier League table since February 2022 (3-2 v Man City), while they’re unbeaten in their five games against sides above them in the table under Ange Postecoglou (W3 D2).
- Aston Villa have lost three of their last four home games in the Premier League (W1), as many defeats as they suffered across their first 23 home matches under Unai Emery in the competition (W18 D2).
- Each of the last six instances of a Spurs player being directly involved in 3+ goals in a Premier League game have been by Son Heung-Min, with two of the games in this run being away to Aston Villa (one goal and two assists today and a hat-trick in April 2022).
- James Maddison has been directly involved in nine goals in eight away games for Spurs in the Premier League this season (three goals, six assists); only in 2022-23 has he had more goal involvements away from home in a single campaign (11 in 16 appearances).
- Tottenham Hotspur have failed to score in the first half of each of their last four Premier League games; their longest such run since December 2022-January 2023 under Antonio Conte (4). Indeed, 14 of their last 16 goals in the competition have been scored in the second half of matches.
- John McGinn was sent off for the first time in his Aston Villa career, with today being his 224th appearance for the club across all competitions.
Aston Villa vs Tottenham Timeline
Aston Villa vs Tottenham Stats Centre
Our Opta match centre delivers you all of the Aston Villa vs Tottenham stats from Sunday’s Premier League kick-off at Villa Park.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
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