Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham

8 months ago 16th Mar 10:55

Aston Villa's hopes for a top four finish are fading following a 2-1 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspurs.

Jermaine Jenas gave Spurs an early lead heading past Villa keeper Brad Friedel after just five minutes.

Villa dominated the first half though, going all out in attack, particularly Ashley Young. Sylvian Petrov and Emile Heskey both had chances but shot too high and wide respectively.

Despite piling on the pressure, poor finishes and good defensive work from Spurs's Jonathan Woodgate stopped Villa from earning an equaliser.

Spurs did have chances of their own and could have doubled their lead had Luka Modric passed to an unmarked Robbie Keane in the box rather than shooting himself.

Villa's best chance came just before the break when Gareth Barry volleyed a pass in from the left wing and Heskey's header hit the crossbar.

Spurs started the second half just like the first, scoring after five minutes. Aaron Lennon passed to Keane who shot towards the post but Darren Bent slid in to push it over the line.

Villa pushed on still with manager Martin O'Neil taking of defender Zat Knight for  the introduction of another striker, John Carew with half an hour still to go. The move could only earn Villa a consolation goal when the Carew rose above Woodgate to head home James Milner's cross on 85 minutes.
 
This weekend's other Premiership results:

Arsenal 4-0 Blackburn

Bolton 1-3 Fulham

Chelsea 1-0 Man City

Everton 3-1 Stoke

Hull 1-1 Newcastle

Man Utd 1-4 Liverpool

Middlesbrough 1-1 Portsmouth

Sunderland 1-2 Wigan