- Postecoglou fielded a rotated side as he took cautious approach ahead of final
- Strikes from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara were enough to sink the away side
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Aston Villa have won 32 games this season and Tottenham have lost 25. Yet simply beating Manchester United in a one-off match could see both qualify for the Champions League. What a strange season this has been.
When Villa travel to Old Trafford on May 25, they will have a chance of reaching Europe’s premier club competition for the second successive season. By then, Spurs may have done so already, provided they can beat United in next week’s Europa League Final in Bilbao.
If they lose, Ange Postecoglou may be out of a job by the time Unai Emery’s men play their final league game of the campaign.
Because even a first trophy since 2008 might not make up for a wretched league campaign that has brought 21 defeats for Spurs. Silverware can paper over only so many cracks and Postecoglou’s strategy for Bilbao suffered a possible setback here as Pape Matar Sarr was taken off early in the second half. At that stage the game was goalless but strikes from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara were enough to sink Postecoglou’s greatly weakened team.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was in the crowd and must have made comparisons between his own manager and Unai Emery. The Villa boss has done another tremendous job this season and if his team make the top five, it would be rich reward for his masterly work.
Emery had claimed he expected Tottenham to pick a strong team and though the Villa boss was surely bluffing, even he would have been surprised to see the visitors’ line-up.
Ten important members of the first-team squad were either named on the bench or excluded altogether, while Sergio Reguilon was handed only his second start of the season. The other, in case you were wondering, was in an FA Cup third-round tie at Tamworth in January.
Given the depleted Spurs line-up and the empty seats in the away section, Villa supporters were anticipating an evening stroll in late spring sunshine. It certainly did not begin that way, as Spurs sat deep in a 4-4-2 and tried to use the pace of Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert on the break.
Ollie Watkins fired straight at sub keeper Antonin Kinsky in the sixth minute and John McGinn fired over moments later. At the other end, fit-again Heung-min Son shot just over from an angle and Emiliano Martinez did well to keep out Odobert’s back heel following a swift counter-attack.
Kinsky made an equally impressive save when Amadou Onana’s cross for the left was destined for the far corner as Watkins stretched to convert it. Watkins then tried to find Marco Asensio when he should have shot, Pau Torres having spotted him with a fine pass from deep.
Watkins was frustrated again as Asensio danced past three challenges before releasing the England forward, whose shot was blocked by Kevin Danso. The home fans were now realising this was no foregone conclusion and there were groans from the North Stand when McGinn, Ian Maatsen and Morgan Rogers all declined the chance to go for goal from promising positions. Asensio did try his luck from 20 yards and his swerving effort just drifted past the post.
The frustration was growing on the pitch, too. Moments after Ezri Konsa had headed McGinn’s free-kick straight at Kinsky, Martinez and Kamara exchanged sharp words soon after a Spurs attack broke down.
Irritating that the ball would not run for them, Villa’s patience wore thin. Konsa reacted angrily when Tel appeared to aim an elbow in his direction. Reguilon lifted his shirt and pointed to a spot on his chest after a tussle with Onana.
Finding himself largely ignored, referee Peter Bankes blew his whistle furiously. Not long afterwards, Postecoglou was left crossing his fingers as Pape Matar Sarr was substituted with an apparent injury.
Just before the hour mark, Villa made the breakthrough. After Danso had produced another fine block to concede a corner, McGinn’s delivery picked out Watkins at the far post. Davies made the crucial mistake of following the ball and leaving Konsa unmarked in the middle to steer in Watkins’ knockdown.
Now Villa were ticking nicely and Watkins drew a sharp stop from Kinsky, with Villa’s top scorer clattered by Davies as he did so. Emery’s men were desperate to put the game beyond doubt but neither Asensio nor Matty Cash could test Kinsky from distance. To Emery’s delight, Kamara soon showed his team-mates how to do it with a fierce drive from the edge of the box that Kinsky could not keep out.
