IRISH EXAMINER
Tottenham’s quest for European football suffered a setback at Villa Park as goals from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz were enough to secure victory for in-form Aston Villa.
A late Harry Kane penalty gave Ryan Mason’s side hope but in the end Villa held on to draw level on points with sixth-placed Spurs who will now be looking nervously over their shoulders.
It didn’t take long for the fractures blighting Spurs’ season to come to the fore at a sun-drenched Villa Park.
Less than a minute had gone before travelling supporters turned on Daniel Levy calling for the club chairman ‘to get out of our club’.
They would have had excuse to turn on Spurs players as well as Villa took command from the off with John McGinn and Douglas Luiz dominating midfield.
The visiting defence was clearly not up to coping with the early pressure and Jacob Ramsey took maximum advantage of a defence at sixes and sevens to put Villa in command.
The 21-year-old timed his run into the penalty box to perfection to slot home Leon Bailey’s pull-back from 10 yards out to record his fifth goal this season.
Spurs were fortunate not to be further ahead at the break as Bailey was denied by Spurs goalkeeper Fraser Forster before Emi Buendia struck the crossbar.
Spurs talisman Kane wasted a chance to equalise seven minutes after the interval when put through by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg after a defensive error but his finish lacked its customary conviction and Emiliano Martinez saved.
Spurs finally raised their game and after winning their first corner on 56 minutes substitute Dejan Kulusevski curled a shot inches wide from an acute angle as Villa found themselves on the back foot.
That proved to be as good as it got for Spurs as Villa defended robustly to frustrate their visitors with a discipline that was conspicuous in its absence at the other end of the field.
It certainly proved costly as Cristian Romero fouled Ollie Watkins 25 yards from goal and Luiz’s free-kick was just strong enough to beat Forster even though the keeper got a hand on his curling effort.
The lack of self-control proved contagious as Martinez brought down Kane as he headed toward the byline before beating the Argentine international from the penalty spot on 89 minutes.
