FA Cup third round:
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Aston Villa 0
Tottenham: Davies (71'), Son (80')
Man of the match: Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur)
Two headers from Dele Alli put Chelsea to the sword at White Hart Lane on Wednesday, securing one of Tottenham Hotspur’s best results since Mauricio Pochettino took charge in the summer of 2014.
Four days later, it was another headed goal — this time from left wing-back Ben Davies — that set Tottenham on their way against a resilient Aston Villa side in the third round of the FA Cup.
Pochettino stuck with the 3-4-3 formation that enabled his side’s success against the Premier League leaders earlier this week, although the personnel was vastly different this time. Only Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier kept their places in the hosts’ starting XI, with Harry Winks, Vincent Janssen and Cameron Carter-Vickers among the fringe players afforded an opportunity from the first whistle.
The game started slowly, Tottenham enjoying plenty of early possession but struggling to do much with it, while Villa seemed content to absorb pressure and hit their opponents on the counter-attack without actually committing many men forward when control of the ball changed sides.
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Moussa Sissoko had a couple of bright moments, the Frenchman showcasing his power with one lung-busting run through the centre of the pitch, but Tottenham struggled to ask questions of the visitors’ backline. Janssen was marshalled well but gave the ball away too often, with the Netherlands international visibly frustrated after one particularly untidy touch.
The first shot of the match did not arrive until the 29th minute, when Leandro Bacuna’s effort from 25 yards was comfortably held by Michel Vorm. A period of sustained Villa pressure followed, but the visitors were unable to sufficiently trouble Tottenham’s stand-in goalkeeper. James Chester miscued a header from Jack Grealish’s free-kick, before Grealish gave the Premier League side the opportunity to regroup by blazing a long-range strike high over the bar.
Generally, it was a half of few chances, but things did improve after the break. Janssen tried his luck from outside the box after a neat one-two with Son Heung-min just 60 seconds after the restart, while a terrific run from Winks shifted the home supporters to the edge of their seats for the first time since the opening exchanges.
The introduction of Alli, scorer of seven goals in his last four appearances, was a further source of excitement on the hour, but it was Son who went closest to opening the scoring with a fierce shot that required an intervention from Sam Johnstone, the on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper making his Villa debut.
Steve Bruce’s men remained dogged and disciplined for the most part, but their resistance was finally broken when Davies nodded Georges-Kevin Nkoudou cross into the bottom corner in the 71st minute.
Villa were unable to regain their confidence thereafter, and Tottenham duly doubled their lead soon after. An excellent team move eventually led to Kieran Trippier feeding a pass into the path of Sissoko, who did well to get his head up and pick out Son in the centre. The South Korean made no mistake after intelligently losing his marker, steering the ball home to book Tottenham’s place in the fourth round of a competition they have won eight times in their history.
It was another deserved victory for Pochettino’s men, who have still not lost at White Hart Lane this season.
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