Tottenham Defeat Villa with Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon Goals

Aaron Lennon – second spurs goal

Tottenham won their fourth consecutive Premier League game with two second half goals from Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon. Tottenham moved up to fifth place in the Premier League, level on points with Everton, in fourth, and a point behind both Manchester clubs on fifteen points. Chelsea maintain their top spot, with a four point gap.

Tottenham Hotspur 2  Aston Villa 0

Scorers: Caulker, Lennon

Team: Lloris; Walker, Gallas, Caulker, Vertonghen; Sandro, Dembele; Lennon (Townsend), Dempsey (Sigurdsson), Bale; Defoe (Adebayor)  Subs: (unused) Friedel, Dawson, Huddlestone, Falque

Steven Caulker first Tottenham goal

Tottenham took almost an hour to score the first goal which enabled them to turn their superiority into control during the final third of the game. To that point, Villa had battled hard to match Tottenham for effort and to restrict their time and space on the ball. It had been very effective and Villa had had a couple of moments when they spurned opportunities to take the lead, especially early in the second half. The Tottenham goalscorer was Steven Caulker but he knew nothing about his first goal for the club. Jermain Defoe, on his thirtieth birthday was searching for his 200th career goal and looked to have scored it after 58 minutes. From a Tottenham corner by Gareth Bale, Defoe controlled the ball at the back post and fired in a fierce shot which ended up in the net. Initially, it looked as if he had achieved his landmark goal on his birthday but on closer inspection his shot had hit Caulker and deflected into goal. Defoe immediately acknowledged it was the young central defender’s goal and Spurs were on their way.

Nine minutes later, Lennon scored his first league goal since last January as he received a pass from Dempsey and cut in on goal to fire a shot, low across the goalkeeper and in at the far post. With the two goal lead Spurs controlled the rest of the match especially the final ten minutes after Villa were reduced to ten men when full back Bennett went off injured and the visitors had used all their substitutes. It maintained Spurs’ record of remaining undefeated when Lennon’s on target and stretched it to 25 games.

The early talking point before the game was Andre Villas-Boas’ decision to play Hugo Lloris ahead of Brad Friedel. This brought to an end the American’s record of 310 successive League games stretching back to August 2004 when he was with Blackburn Rovers. It continued through his three years with Villa and for another season with Tottenham. Speaking after the game, Villas-Boas explained the situation as a matter of rotation,

"“Nothing tipped the balance, we understand that Brad has been immense. We wanted to give a continuous run of games for Lloris bearing in mind the Panathinaikos match and two France games coming up, so it keeps his form high and allows us to count on two great keepers. So we are fortunate that we can do this rotation.”"

Tottenham started the more positively but Villa worked hard and closed them down quickly. The introduction of Lloris was Spurs’ only change from the team which defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford. Paul Lambert had sent out an unchanged Villa team from the one which took a point from their home game against West Bromwich Albion last weekend. This meant that the former Tottenham striker, Daren Bent, was among the substitutes. Lambert matched the Tottenham formation with two wide players to prevent the Tottenham full backs getting forward and it worked very successfully as Tottenham struggled to get any flow to their play.

When Spurs got forward their final pass or cross often failed to find a team mate with the more dangerous moments coming from Bale and Jan Vertonghen on the left. Lennon was a threat on the right but Bale had found his match in Vlaar who matched his pace and prevented him from playing the ball in from the left on a number of occasions. Guzan in the Villa goal was alert and quickly off his line to prevent dangerous moves developing. Spurs’ interplay across the pitch was good but they found it difficult to get that final pass as Villa crowded them out or blocked any shots from distance.

After thirty minutes, a run from Lennon was pulled back to Defoe who turned but his shot went wide. Minutes later, a free-kick by Bale was headed down by Sandro but Vertonghem couldn’t get any control on his shot as he turned.

Hugo Lloris Premier League debut against Aston Villa

The match started quietly for Lloris but as Villa increased their forward movement he dealt with those early attacks comfortably, coming off his line quickly to claim the ball on the edge of the area. He then had to venture out of his area to clear as a long up-field clearance by Villa caught out William Gallas. Spurs had more possession as the half finished and were getting behind the Villa defence more frequently but without any final product. With a minute to half-time Lloris punched clear from a Villa free-kick.

it was a half in which Villa matched Tottenham, limiting Spurs to a few chances but they also created a couple of their own.

Villa had the better of the opening period to the second half. A cross from Agbonlahor found Benteke unmarked in the centre of the area but is shot was straight at Lloris who held the ball cleanly. A few moments later he headed over a cross from Albrighton when Lloris had played the ball out too quickly and given it away. Having survived those early shocks Spurs set about winning the game, increasing the pressure on Villa’s hard working defence who restricted Tottenham to shots from distance which went wide or were dealt with by the goalkeeper.

Once the breakthrough came with Caulker’s goal, Villa knew they had to do something to try and get back into the game. One minute after introducing Bent and N’Zogbia, Lennon added the second goal for Spurs and it was match over. Spurs continued to threaten, Emmanuel Adebayor was sent on for Defoe but Spurs couldn’t find another goal although Bale had a shot deflected onto the post by the goalkeeper in the final minutes.

Tottenham were satisfied with the win, with a clean sheet and with the continuation of their unbeaten run. They overcame a Villa team who showed much endeavour to deny Spurs but they eventually found a way through. Villas-Boas said that the players were getting accustomed to playing in the Europa League and then following it with a League match three days later.

"“We made a tremendous physical effort and we still did not go down a level in performance, so it was a massive effort for them and I’m extremely happy with the result. It’s not easy but the players are getting that habit and it’s extremely positive for the future.”"

Gary Lineker tweeted after the game.

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