FIVE Things learnt from Spurs vs Villa

Another defeat for the Premier League’s basement club

Tottenham Hotspur defeated Aston Villa 3-1 last night at White Hart Lane, live on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

SillySeason highlights five things we learned from the match.

Spurs pushing for the top four

During the build-up to last night’s encounter, Sky Sports News HQ asked the public if they thought Tottenham were in the title race.

They are five points off joint-leaders Manchester City and Arsenal, so if they beat the Gunners in the North London derby this weekend, and results go their way, they may well be pushing for the summit.

However, we at SillySeason believe winning the Premier League is a step too far for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, but third place and an automatic route to the Champions League group stages is an extremely realistic possibility.

They currently sit fifth on 20 points, one point off Manchester United in fourth (who are struggling to score goals) and two points off high-flying Leicester City in third.

Remi Garde needs to solidify the Villa defence

New Aston Villa boss Remi Garde was in the stands watching and analysing the defeat, and by the looks of things he realises there is a lot of improvement needed.

The major issue is the fact they continue to concede soft goals week in week out. This was something that previous manager Tim Sherwood continued to highlight as a problem but failed to fix the issue.

The big question is whether or not Garde can rectify this problem, because they looked good in some attacking spells which we will come to.

Spurs opened the scoring within around five minutes last night through Moussa Dembele and it was all too easy. Ciaran Clark was marking the Belgian during a throw-in and his positioning was spot on, he made sure he was goal-side of Dembele.

However, Clark was weak and got rolled and held off by Dembele, who then smashed home the first goal of the evening. This kind of defending is simply unacceptable for Villa if they want to stay in this division.

Harry Kane back in form

Spurs centre forward Harry Kane has been the subject of a lot of criticism so far this season, due to the fact he was struggling to score goals.

The England international had by far his best campaign as a player last term, but hasn’t lived up to those expectations recently…until now.

Kane blasted home a hat-trick in the 5-1 win at Bournemouth, before brilliantly finishing off Spurs’ stoppage time counter-attack to secure the three points last night.

These goals will be a relief for the striker, who wants to nail down his place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2016.

His own goal at Swansea seems a long time ago.

Jordan Ayew has potential

As we briefly mentioned earlier, one positive for Remi Garde and Aston Villa is that they do have some strong attacking options and capabilities.

We have seen that Rudy Gestede can be a handful for any team if you play to his strengths, but if he is also partnered with Jordan Ayew, Villa might be on to a golden partnership.

Ayew showed positivity when he came on last night for Villa, running at the Villa defence with his pace and trickery and firing some fierce shots on goal.

The Ghana international showed glimpses of what he’s about and even scored a goal, albeit via a deflection.

For example, Gestede up front with the creativity of Ayew, Jack Grealish and Adama Traore behind has the potential to be very dangerous and hurt teams with pace and power.

However, it’s no good scoring goals if you’re conceding just as many; and that’s exactly what Villa need to prevent.

Delle Alli is one for the future

Another massive boost for Spurs is the rapid development of Delle Alli.

The former MK Dons man has taken the Premier League by storm and has been in outstanding form since making his senior debut for the England national team against Estonia.

At just 19 years of age, he is still a raw talent and has a lot to learn, but he is picking up skills and experience quickly and has settled into life at Tottenham with ease.

An exquisite volley last night put his side 2-0 up against Villa and finishes like that are showing he has a superb amount of potential to be a key player for England in the future.