Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
Villa ParkAttendance41,874.
Report and highlights as Jose Mourinho's men maintain charge towards Champions League spots
Sunday 16 February 2020 21:49, UK
Heung-Min Son scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Tottenham put significant pressure on Chelsea in the top-four race with a 3-2 win at Aston Villa.
The relegation-threatened hosts bossed the early stages and took a deserving lead when Toby Alderweireld scored an own goal (9).
The Belgian defender redeemed himself before the break when lashing home a difficult chance (27) before Spurs took advantage of a VAR call when being awarded a penalty when Bjorn Engels challenged Steven Bergwijn.
Pepe Reina saved Heung-Min Son's spot-kick but the South Korean was quickest to the rebound and made it 2-1 (45+2).
It looked a big ask for Villa to respond with Spurs playing cleverly on the counter-attack but Engels headed his team level (53) after a brilliant Jack Grealish corner.
Both teams had chances to win it and Reina made some important stops for Villa before a horrendous Engels error presented Son with one last chance, which he took (90+3).
The result catapults Jose Mourinho's men into fifth and to within one point of Chelsea, who play Manchester United on Monday Night Football.
Fifth place in the Premier League is now likely to offer a Champions League spot following Manchester City's two-year European ban, barring any successful appeal, but Spurs looked to be fluffing their opportunity in the opening exchanges.
Dean Smith's side were full of energy and guile and were gifted the lead after just nine minutes.
Anwar El Ghazi's cross skidded off the wet Villa Park surface and completely confused Hugo Lloris and Alderweireld which ended with the ball deflecting off the Belgian and into his own net.
A marauding Grealish was causing Spurs lots of problems off the left and his mazy run almost ended with Douglas Luiz finding the net but his goal-bound shot was turned away over the crossbar by Ben Davies.
With Spurs looking on the ropes, they hauled themselves back into the game on 27 minutes when Alderweireld made amends.
Son's corner was poorly dealt with by Danny Drinkwater and the ball dropped to Alderweireld who swivelled to fire a neat finish high past Reina on the half-volley.
Dele Alli grew into the game but his quality in the final third was lacking as he miscued an effort from a presentable angle.
Spurs then completed the first-half comeback just before the break.
Bergwijn showed his speed and skill by charging in behind but his run was stopped by a sliding Engels. Initially, no penalty was awarded but a VAR review overturned the decision to the frustration of the home fans.
Reina guessed correctly to palm Son's penalty away but the forward was quickest to the rebound and bundled the ball home.
With half-time to regroup, it was expected that Spurs would come out with better defensive organisation, yet, their lead only lasted eight minutes.
Engels followed in Alderweireld's footsteps and redeemed himself by powering home a header from close range after a pin-point Grealish corner.
Spurs turned up the pressure as the game wore on and Reina had to be at his best to deny Bergwijn, Son and Alli, who continued to flounder with his finishing.
The in-form goalkeeper also twice denied Son with five minutes left, expertly turning his angled drive wide and, from the resulting corner, making a low stop.
However, there would be one more opportunity for Spurs when Engels made a hash of a clearance and the South Korean stayed cool to fire Spurs to within touching distance of their London rivals.
The former Liverpool goalkeeper showed he's still got all the attributes despite his advancing years by keeping his team in the game for long periods. His brilliance between the sticks denied Spurs on seven occasions as his team-mates in front of him let him down playing a very open style that made it pretty simple for Mourinho's men to counter-attack in behind. With him in this form, Villa certainly still have a fair chance of staying up.
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith: "For me, it's a farcical VAR decision because there are 42,000 people in this stadium today, Martin Atkinson gives a goal kick and everybody in this stadium believes it's a goal kick, even their player who has had the shot. But we go into a sterile environment and whoever the VAR is today looks at it 10 times. You're telling me that's clear and obvious? The criteria is clear and obvious. I said to Martin at half-time, I don't blame him, but if he's brave enough to walk over to that monitor it would take 30 seconds and he'd be happy with the decision and we'd play on.
"Instead, we go upstairs and have it re-refereed. If you watch it 20 times you can see some contact. Was it enough contact to put the lad off? I'm not so sure. The criteria is clear and obvious. That's not clear and obvious. But because there was contact before that's probably put their marks up to 98 per cent now. For me, farcical."
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho: "It was a performance with mistakes. We made a bad start, a bad collective start. But it was a performance with a fantastic mentality, personality and desire to win. Fantastic football.
"I think it is the match since I arrived when we created the most chances. We had so many chances to score and not just the chance that arrives occasionally but the chance that we build and that we really work for and beautiful football.
"I am obviously very pleased with the victory. I would be now complaining if the result was 2-2 after we missed so many chances, especially in the second half. It was too much football just to score a goal on minute 94."
Alderweireld told Sky Sports: "It was not one of my best performances but it's been a beautiful week for me with the birth of my son, but yesterday I had to travel eight hours.
"It was difficult, my legs were not sharp. I'm happy I helped the team a little bit with the goal.
"Again, not my best performance but the lads helped me out today."
Aston Villa face a trip to Southampton next Saturday while Spurs have a Champions League last-16 fixture to look forward to against RB Leipzig on Wednesday before taking on Chelsea on Saturday.
