Impressive Spurs claim huge win at Aston Villa to move out of relegation zone

[p]A [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aston-villa/W00wmLO0/"]Villa[/a] side showing seven changes from their UEFA Europa League semi-final defeat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Nottingham Forest[/a] on Thursday made a dreadful start to proceedings here, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tottenham/UDg08Ohm/"]Spurs[/a]’ greater desire both in and out of possession immediately evident.[/p][p]The visitors still lacked a cutting edge in the final third, but found a rare moment of high quality to break the deadlock.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/danso-kevin/z1MBQMNN/"]Kevin Danso[/a]’s long throw was only cleared as far as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gallagher-conor/dtbJO8B3/"]Conor Gallagher[/a], who took the ball down and lashed home along the ground from 25 yards for his first goal in Tottenham colours.[/b][/p][image alt="Key stats" id="1b78a446-e9fc-4c7c-b55d-d0316fff1c0b" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="759378b3-498d-4c15-84f6-ae26b3ed7d23" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/palhinha-joao/vFArGMai/"]João Palhinha[/a] struck the post from similar range just three minutes later before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kolo-muani-randal/WKBRZ6Y6/"]Randal Kolo Muani[/a] worked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/martinez-emiliano/ziCcc5jM/"]Emiliano Martínez[/a] at the back post, but the visitors weren’t waiting long for a second strike.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/udogie-iyenoma/ERi6Ggec/"]Destiny Udogie[/a]’s cross from the right was brilliantly headed home by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/richarlison/K82Dz773/"]Richarlison[/a], whose first-ever H2H goal sparked jubilation in the away end.[/b][/p][p]The home fans had nothing to shout about, seeing their side take 34 minutes to even touch the ball in the opposition box, while a failure to register a single shot before HT sparked jeers from the home support.[/p][embed guid="cf49f0a2-cd5d-45c7-8cfb-ff073ad95799" url="https://x.com/SpursOfficial/status/2051028782501237121?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" social-type="twitter" /][p]It’s the first time Tottenham have led a PL game at half time since early January, making Unai Emery’s decision not to make any substitutions ahead of the restart a puzzling one.[/p][p]He eventually turned to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/watkins-ollie/rHnOkDD8/"]Ollie Watkins[/a] just before the hour mark with the pattern of play unchanged, by which time they’d managed just one touch in Spurs’ box – the lowest by any side in a PL game all season.[/p][p]The visitors contented themselves with protecting their lead, celebrating successes in duels as if they were goals.[/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="1a717526-30c6-457b-9b8a-531c8075fb24" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="0ec8894f-f52d-4279-b396-b1b9c9c3896c" original-width="1920" original-height="1080" /][p][b]Villa fans exited in their droves with 10 minutes still to play, with those who left missing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/buendia-emiliano/dYDvGYIu/"]Emiliano Buendía[/a]’s glancing header, which served as little more than a consolation in the sixth minute of stoppage time.[/b][/p][p]Villa’s margin inside the top five remains at six points despite that, while this could be a pivotal evening for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/de-zerbi-roberto/pYizckpN/"]Roberto De Zerbi[/a]’s Spurs side, who leapfrog rivals [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/west-ham/Cxq57r8g/"]West Ham United[/a] and have now registered seven of their last eight PL wins away from home.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gallagher-conor/dtbJO8B3/"]Conor Gallagher[/a] (Tottenham Hotspur)[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/aston-villa-W00wmLO0/tottenham-UDg08Ohm/?mid=jFEYCXop"]Catch up on all the match stats with Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]