Tottenham put their humiliating 3-0 defeat against West Ham firmly behind them as they saw past a spirited Aston Villa side at Villa Park. Tottenham broke the deadlock somewhat fortuitously through Andros Townsend after half an hour. The England international saw his cross evade everybody in the box, and flew all the way in past Villa 'keeper Brad Guzan. Andreas Weimann came close to levelling the game before half-time after a good Viilla move on the right saw him teed up on the edge of the box. However, the Austrian fired wide. After a drab first half performance, the hosts started to up the tempo in their play, but with the Villans getting bodies forward in every attack, Tottenham picked them apart with a swift counter with 20 minutes to play. Striker Roberto Soldado latched on to a sumptuous pass from midfielder Paulinho, and the Spaniard finished with aplomb to double Tottenham's lead. Villa came close to pulling a goal back on a number of occasions in the second half, with Benteke twice heading over the bar after coming off the bench. The impressive Townsend had a great opportunity to make it 3-0 late on after his long swerving drive whistled just over the bar. Villa failed to create enough clear chances of note, and Tottenham ran out worthy winners as a result. The Midlands outfit were made to rue missed opportunities when the game was still at 1-0. -with Benteke perhaps feeling he squandered the hosts' best opportunities in the second-half. The result now sees Spurs move up into 5th place in the Premier League after eight games - 5 points above last season's title winners Manchester United.
Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.
