Roberto De Zerbi had told his Tottenham players to silence the voices competing for their attention but his internal monologue would have been extremely good value at Villa Park. When Richarlison headed in on 25 minutes to double Spurs’ lead, De Zerbi, in pristine white high tops, motored on to the pitch as if at the wheel on Mario Kart, with Marcello Quinto, one of the coaches who the Italian brought with him upon his appointment last month, not far behind him.
After recording their first victory this year at Wolves last weekend, Spurs returned to the West Midlands to chalk up successive Premier League wins for the first time since August. Significantly, this was a win that hoists Spurs out of the relegation zone, trading places with West Ham, who were defeated at Brentford on Saturday. It may be May but Spurs finally appear up and running.
De Zerbi, this just his fourth game in the job, evidently has his players dancing to his tune. The travelling Spurs support understandably went ballistic when the final whistle arrived, the Villa substitute Emiliano Buendía’s late consolation doing nothing to dampen the buoyancy in the away end. Both during the game and judging by the noise at the end it felt like Spurs, and not Villa, are the team riding high in the division and close to qualifying for the Champions League.
Tottenham were superior to Villa in all departments, even before Conor Gallagher, a Villa target in January, opened the scoring after a dozen minutes courtesy of a superbly taken strike into the bottom corner from outside the box. Villa were guilty of going through the motions from kick-off and it is an ominous statistic that Spurs now have more away wins in the league than them this year.
For Villa, another jolting defeat and another anaemic performance. Nottingham Forest expect Villa to bring their A-game for their Europa League semi-final second leg but, in one sense, Vítor Pereira must have been licking his lips at this Villa showing. Perhaps Forest’s biggest concern is that surely Villa cannot lay on such a lukewarm production here on Thursday. Villa’s display was one of, if not, the worst since Unai Emery took charge three and a half years ago. Nothing typified an alarming display more than Jadon Sancho being flagged offside after receiving the ball back at a short-corner routine a couple of minutes into the second half. Emery and Villa Park will demand a reaction.
On this evidence, no wonder De Zerbi is adamant Spurs can win all their remaining matches, with a trip to Chelsea sandwiched by home matches against Leeds and Everton. It is also surely an advantage that Spurs do not leave London from here on in, while West Ham travel to Newcastle. Spurs outworked, outmuscled and outfought an anaemic Villa side. Spurs hoovered up second balls and seized on Villa’s half heartedness. De Zerbi outwitted Emery, whose seven changes with overturning Forest’s advantage in mind, spectacularly backfired. How Villa missed John McGinn, the captain absent through injury.
De Zerbi oozes charisma and has brought a gravitas that his predecessors simply lacked. But he has also sharpened this Spurs side in double-quick time. The Italian knows they still have their flaws, but he has doubled down on the strengths, even with a bloated injury list, the biggest in the division. Rodrigo Bentancur, who beat the turf in the first half after an awkward landing under pressure from Lamare Bogarde, was running on empty by the time he departed midway through the second half.
Injuries to Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons prompted De Zerbi into enforced changes, Richarlison’s promotion paying off handsomely, while João Palhinha, Mathys Tel and Destiny Udogie also started. De Zerbi’s messaging has been smart and after bigging up and breathing confidence into the front three who ran amok here, the trio delivered. Randal Kolo Muani, who De Zerbi pointed out Paris Saint-Germain paid £76.4m for a few years ago, was busy down the right and departed high-fiving away supporters. Tel was lively and Richarlison got the goal that killed Villa, leaping to head past Emiliano Martínez inside the six-yard box.
Palhinha cannoned a shot against a post as Spurs sought to double their lead and while Villa established some kind of order after the interval, Antonin Kinsky did not have a save to make. All five of Villa’s efforts at goal came in the second half, Buendía’s 96th-minute header with seconds to play the only one on target. Tammy Abraham had just eight first-half touches and was replaced by Ollie Watkins on the hour after another blunt outing.
Gallagher’s opener was sweet and it will have hurt Emery that it was a player he admires greatly who reopened the wound after a first-leg defeat at the City Ground. The goal stemmed from a Kevin Danso long throw and, only half-cleared, Gallagher’s sidefoot control eliminated Abraham and with his next touch he sent a powerful, low shot into the corner. Gallagher punched the air and Spurs’ outfield players, all in luminous yellow, savoured the moment. De Zerbi, though, wanted more, calling Palhinha over for a pep talk. Spurs got that and then some.
