Weekend review: Spurs' CL hopes boosted with 4-0 win over Aston Villa

Coming into Sunday's matchup at Villa Park, an abundance of goals were expected from both sides. Yet, the first half came and went without a single score from either team.

Spurs had only notched one shot on goal at the halfway mark, and Villa wasn't much better. Entering the second half, something had to give. After all, these teams featured two of the most prolific attacks in the Premier League. Sure enough, one side did give, and it came when the right foot of Spurs attacker James Maddison found the back of the net in the 50th minute.

Much like in last week's 3-1 win over Crystal Palace, the Lilywhites scored their goals in bunches, with Maddison starting the scoring, followed by Brennan Johnson's follow up three minutes later to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. In the space of less than five minutes, it seemed as if the energy had been sucked from the home supporters as Ange Postecoglou's side showed why they are already a threat to make the top four of the Premier League in the Australian manager's first season at the helm.

However, whatever life was left in the home team truly escaped the side once their captain, John McGinn, drew a red card in the 65th minute after a challenge to Spurs defender Destiny Udogie. With the opposition going a man down, Spurs continued to press Villa even more than before, leading to over ten minutes of stoppage time.

Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario suffered a knock to the back of the head late in the contest, but was cleared by Spurs' medical staff and finished the game without further incident.

Another potential injury to keep an eye on is that of Spurs defender Micky Van de Ven, who left in the 49th minute of the contest and was replaced by January signing Radu Dragusin. The Dutchman has been a major key to our defense, and was in the midst of another fine outing before the injury led to his early departure. Hopefully it wasn't a serious knock and he'll be ready to go after the international break, with circulating reports that this will be the most likely scenario.

The visitors scored two more goals in those final ten minutes, with captain Son Heung-min and substitute winger Timo Werner scoring within a span of three minutes as well to give Spurs a comfortable 4-0 win on the afternoon. The club is now ahead of Aston Villa on goal differential for the season (+20 to +18) and is currently two points behind the weekend's opponents for fourth place in the Premier League.

In the grand scheme of things, the better for fourth place might be a moot point, as the Premier League can still notch a potential fifth spot in the Champions League if the league's co-efficent is high enough. Yet, fourth place is an assured spot in Europe's biggest competition. And really, isn't that spot worth fighting for? Based on how Big Ange's team punched Villa's lights out with a terrific second half, it seems like a spot that the Lilywhites definitely want, and then some.