Villa keep their Champions League dream alive with win over Spurs | OneFootball

There was a lot of talk in the build-up to the fixture between Aston Villa and Tottenham at Villa Park. The visitors requested the fixture be brought forward from Sunday to Friday so they had an equal amount of time to prepare for their Europa League Final with Manchester United.

Both sets of supporters clashed on social media for various reasons when in reality, the Premier League have created itself yet another problem. Villa, along with other Premier League sides in the past, have requested games to be moved to aid their European competitions, only to be knocked back. The debate/issue should never have been a Villa vs Spurs issue, but a Premier League issue.

Should the Premier League support its clubs in European competitions? Absolutely. But it has to be fair across the board, and when supporters of 14-15 Premier League clubs already say there is bias towards the so-called top 5 or whatever the media want to call them these days, this wasn’t a great look.

Anyway, enough of that. Villa knew they had to win to have any hopes of still qualifying for the Champions League this season, while Spurs came to Villa Park to avoid any further injuries this season (And just for reference, Spurs have only had one more (22) than Villa (21) to date despite all the excuses by the Spurs manager this season).

Report: Tottenham 0-2 Aston Villa

It was no surprise to anyone when Ange Postecoglou named a weaker side (rightly or wrongly). The Aussie confirmed players were rested to prevent any injuries going into the final, which you can’t blame him given their woeful Premier League position.

Unai Emery made three changes from his side that beat Bournemouth last weekend as Ian Maatsen, Pau Torres, and John McGinn replaced Lucas Digne, Tyrone Mings and the suspended Jacob Ramsey.

The home side had to be patient with Spurs sitting in and looking to exploit them on the counter-attack. The first chance of note came through Villa loanee Marco Asensio, but he fired his effort just wide.

Spurs skipper Heung-Min Son created the visitors’ first chance when he found Wilson Odobert on a counter-attack, but Emi Martinez was equal to his effort.

Emery’s side eventually broke the deadlock and eased the tension inside Villa Park early in the second half through Ezri Konsa.

The game was then killed off shortly after when Boubacar Kamara shot with his weaker foot from the edge of the box to confirm all three points for Villa.

The win put Villa into the top five with sides around them still having games to play.