Aston Villa (Away) 03.05.2026

90 seconds in, Martinez played a short pass out of the box and Spurs won the ball, played it to Richarlison centrally just inside the 18 yard line, but his shot was blocked for a corner.  That was headed behind for another one, but the ball then dropped for the keeper after it came down off a bunch of players at the far post.

Having closed down Mings, Richarlison forced him to play the ball out in front of the main stand ten yards from their dead ball line.   A long throw from Kevin Danso was headed out of the box and Conor Gallagher took a touch away from Abraham as it came to him and struck a low right foot shot that went just inside Martinez’s right hand post from outside the box.  The energy the team had shown was putting the much changed Villa side under pressure and the midfielder’s first goal for the club couldn’t have come at a better time.  Conor’s first touch sent Abraham the other way, as he thought the Spurs man was going to head back towards the Spurs goal, but it set up his shot beautifully and his shot unerringly found the bottom corner out of Martinez’s reach.

Pressing high in the Villa half, Spurs were winning the ball time and time again.  The light blue seats were gleaming in the late afternoon sunshine as the Villa fans trudged out to get a drink to try to forget what was happening out on the pitch.  Those that stayed in their seats were quick to boo every mistake the home players made or the lack of willingness to play the ball forward.  Palhinha almost picked out a long through pass to meet Tel’s run into the box, but it was a little over-hit.  Mathys shuffled the ball past Cash, making the defender look amateur but after he drove into the box, he shot wildly over the bar from a tight angle when Gallagher was free inside him, which came just after Kolo Muani had blazed over from a long way out.

Just before half-time, Kolo Muani got away down the right and did well to hold off a couple of defenders to cross deep beyond the far post.  Destiny did well to head it back to Tel, but he struck another wayward shot off target.  While both Mathys and Randal put in a lot of effort, their decision making at times was poor, hitting shots that were highly unlikely to find the net.

Applying pressure again as Villa played the ball out, this time on Lindelof that made him scoop the ball back towards his own goal and off for a corner as Martinez couldn’t handle it.

Bentancur and Kolo Muani went off with 25 minutes to play and Bissouma and Spence came on, as Randal enjoyed his walk around the pitch, high-fiving the Spurs fans before getting stick from the Villa fans at the North Stand end.  Djed was freed on halfway, making a run down the wing until he got to the box, where he exchanged passes with Gallagher before coming inside to shoot a foot wide of the near post, but then an offside flag went up, so it wouldn’t have counted if it had gone in.

There were a few yellow cards flying about as Tel got one for kicking the ball away, Rogers for dissent when he didn’t get a corner and Danso for a foul on Watkins, which was a little worrying, as it hadn’t been clear who had been booked when Tel was shown a yellow card, because Kevin had a foul given against him with the ref waving a card in nobody in particular.  The Villa sections started emptying with 10 minutes to go, which is pretty shameful for a team in fifth place in the league and in a Europa League semi-final.

Villa’s subs had given them a little bit of impetus although without any end result, so Spurs pressed forward and won a corner to Rogers’ disgust and when Porro played it into the middle of the box Danso had a free header that Martinez caught under the crossbar.  Kevin was around the penalty spot, so it would have had to have been some header to score from there.  When Villa won a corner in the last minute, Richi got a touch on it with his head at the near post and it hit Mings on the shoulder and went over the bar, when it might have gone anywhere.

On 90 minutes, Richarlison limped off with Tel joining him in being substituted, as Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Bergvall came on to add some fresh legs to see the game out.  With six and a half minutes of five added minutes played, Cash hoisted a cross from the right to the near post and Buendia (who always seems to score against us whoever he plays for) beat Micky to the ball and glanced his header over Kinsky to find the net at the far post with the home side’s first effort on target.  It seemed only to be a late consolation, although there was no indication of how much more time would be added on.  As it was not much thankfully, as Villa getting anything out of the match would have been daylight robbery.

I wondered whether this result was the return of a favour, where we put out a  less than full strength side last season at Villa Park for the re-arranged fixture that gave us more time to prepare for the Europa League final, allowing Villa to three points that got them into the same competition this season.

Earlier in the season, there were moans from certain groups in the Spurs fanbase that Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha should never play together ever again.  Today they were magnificent.  Tigerish in the tackle and clever in using the ball, as well as always available to receive the ball.  Bentancur has a touch of Moussa Dembele about him, as he is so difficult to dispossess, coming out of duels with the ball when played in tight spaces with no conceivable explanation of how he did it.  Gallagher created the Holy Trinity in our midfield today, putting in a mighty effort and taking his goal really well to show for the first time why he was brought in.  No more tiredness after 60 minutes, no more exerting himself chasing around with a lack of purpose and a driving force that pushed the team forward.  Playing through midfield has been a real problem, but today it all fell into place.

Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani stretched Villa to the side-lines providing space for other team-mates to exploit inside and with Porro and Udogie taking advanced positions into the Villa half, it nullified any threat that their wide men might have posed.  Not that there was a hope of that, with Sancho, and Rogers unable to keep passes on the pitch and Abraham was ineffectual against our defenders.  Tielemens spent the match griping that he was being muscled out of it and the referee did fairly well, but with Spurs showing controlled aggression for most of the match, it was little bit annoying that we played like other PL teams do, but because it is us, we ended up with five yellow cards.  How Bogarde didn’t get one for a late clatter on Bentancur’s instep remains a mystery that will never be solved.

The message on the big screen thanking Villa fans for their support were aimed at empty seats as the home supporters headed back into the dark depths of Birmingham, as Spurs had out-done the home team, who have been a bit of a bogey side for us.  We had a good record at Villa Park for a few years, but that had gone over the last couple of seasons, but today, when we needed it most, the team put the screws on Villa to prevent them playing, but also played some good stuff themselves.  The two goals were good ones and Villa didn’t come anywhere near troubling Toni Kinsky, who was beaten at the end but didn’t have to make a save.  Obviously all the changes disrupted the team, but the players involved have beaten Tottenham before, so it must have been the semi-final second leg on Thursday that was on their minds.  That and the pressure they were constantly put under by the Tottenham players.