Tottenham firmly put the pressure on the teams above them in the race for Champions League qualification, as they beat bottom of the table Aston Villa 3-1.
Having announced Remi Garde as their new manager, The Villains travelled to North London under the watchful eye of the Frenchman, who sat in the stands, allowing Kevin McDonald to take charge of proceedings.
What he saw of the game wouldn’t have pleased him. A dour match not helped by how poor Aston Villa looked emphasised the huge job the former Olympique Lyonnais boss has on his hands.
For Tottenham, it was a massive boost ahead of a tough trio of London fixtures in the form of Arsenal, West Ham and Chelsea, but will head to the Emirates quietly confident of extending their ten-match unbeaten league run.
Having conceded in the opening 45 seconds against Bournemouth last time out, Spurs took just 180 to find their way past a hapless Villa defence.
A lobbed pass from Danny Rose sent Mousa Dembele away down the left, finding himself locked in a battle with Ciaran Clark for possession.
There are very few people who seem able to dispossess Dembele. On this occasion, Clark was not one of those people. The Belgian bullied and powered his way past Clark, shrugging off the challenge of the Irishman, before firing through the legs of Brad Guzan, who perhaps would be disappointed at being beaten so easily.
After a blistering start, Spurs retreated within themselves for the next 20 minutes, knowing that they didn’t have to exert any real pressure on a Villa side so devoid of confidence and belief. Former Spur Alan Hutton looked like the visitors’ only attacking threat from his right back position.
But it was left back Rose who had the next best chance. A clever corner cutback from Christian Eriksen found the defender, who, taking advantage of the vacated space, fired just over from a tight angle.
The rest of the half entered a lull, with the only talking point a clash between Dembele and Ashley Westwood, which saw the latter cop a flailing arm to the face as Dembele tried to hold off the challenge.
Eventually, Westwood found himself unable to continue and was replaced by Jordan Ayew, who within two minutes of coming on, was booked for a late challenge on Eric Dier.
The Villains had found themselves gradually growing into the game, without looking likely to find the back of Tottenham’s net, unable to make the most of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Jack Grealish’s pace as Spurs looked untroubled at the back.
Grealish was particularly wasteful in possession, whilst Scott Sinclair failed to test Kyle Walker at all; a far cry from his time at Swansea City.
And in stoppage time at the end of the first half, Spurs firmly put Aston Villa to the sword.
Yet again Danny Rose was involved, as his cross was headed away by Joleon Lescott before the ball fell to Dele Alli who composed himself before firing a low drive into the corner of Guzan’s goal. It was yet another high point in the 19-year-old’s Tottenham career so far, having made the jump from League One to Premier League seem effortless.
At half time Agbonlahor, who failed to register a touch in the Tottenham penalty area, was taken off for summer signing Rudy Gestede who in truth didn’t seem to fare much better.
But after 70 minutes, he produced Villa’s first shot in the second half.
Dier under pressure gave the ball away to Carles Gil, who in turn played in Gestede in the box, but his shot was closed down by a strong block from Jan Vertonghen.
That seemed to galvanize Villa who started to take the game to Tottenham.
Leandro Bacuna popped up on the edge of the area and unleashed a fierce, curling shot which hit the foot of Hugo Lloris’ goal.
If that was a warning for the home side they didn’t heed it, as Jordan Ayew got the visitors back into the game.
Lazy play in midfield allowed Ayew to break away before his shot took a fortunate deflection off Vertonghen to wrong-foot Lloris.
Lucky maybe, but thoroughly deserved. And that goal seemed to unnerve Tottenham and for the first time in the match, Spurs looked extremely shaky.
Giving the ball away, panicking under pressure and just hoofing everything away, it was starting to look like the Spurs of old. Ayew was becoming a thorn in Tottenham’s side and his shot flew narrowly over Lloris’ bar to set nervous seats on edge at White Hart Lane.
A boring game was certainly going to have a lively finish. But that small period represented Villa’s best chance of snatching something from the game. As the game drew to a close, what would have been of frustration for Kevin McDonald is Villa’s inability to play with the intensity from the off.
And it was Spurs who had the final say. A breakaway saw Christian Eriksen play Erik Lamela through one-on-one on the edge of the area, with Harry Kane unmarked in the box. The Lamela of old probably would have gone for goal himself. In this case and as it has been throughout the season, the Argentine made the correct decision to play in Kane to score his fourth goal in the space of a week, firing beyond the despairing Guzan.
For all of Villa’s spirit, which will be crucial if they want to continue their record of never being relegated from the Premier League, they clearly lack cohesion and a cutting edge, which will be something Remi Garde will have to address and quickly.
