Aston Villa recorded an important victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the penultimate round of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign on Friday at Villa Park.
The game was goalless at the break, but then Ezri Konsa (57′) and Boubacar Kamara (73′) struck for the home side, setting, as it turned out, the final score at 2-0.
Teams
Marcus Rashford and Youri Tielemans were unavailable for Villa boss Unai Emery to select through injury, as well as Jacob Ramsey who served a red-card suspension.
With Emiliano Martinez between the posts, Konsa paired up with Pau Torres in the heart of defence, with Matty Cash on the right and Ian Maatsen on the left. In the middle of the park, Kamara was joined by Amadou Onana, and captain John McGinn, together with Morgan Rogers and Marco Asensio, supported striker Ollie Watkins.
As for Spurs, the upcoming Europa League final forced coach Ange Postecoglou to apply a fair level of rotation to his team. On top of that, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall, Dane Scarlett, Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin, were injured.
Antonin Kinsky replaced Guglielmo Vicario in goal. Ben Davies and Kevin Danso got the nod as the centre-back pairing, providing a bit of rest for Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. Djed Spence covered the right defensive flank, Sergio Reguilon the left. Archie Gray and Pape Matar Sarr paired up in midfield, Mikey Moore and Wilson Odobert attacked from the flanks, while captain Son Heung-min played closest to striker Mathys Tel.
How it happened
The contest was rather balanced in the first half. Villa did have a few chances, most notably through and an attempted cross which Kinsky had to tip over the bar, but Spurs had their moments as well, as Son proved as dangerous as ever on the counterattack and Odobert forced Emi Martinez into a difficult save.
The home side entered the second half with caution, but when Konsa finally broke the deadlock, they seemed to have finally broken though restraints and the victory never truly looked in doubt. Kamara’s fine shot later only applied the finishing touch, even though there were still around 20 minutes to go.
With the Europa League final obviously weighing heavily on their minds, the visitors appeared to lack proper motivation to get back into the contest, and Villa were able to bring the match to an end without any drama.
Reactions
Speaking to the press after the game, Postecoglou confirmed his team selection was also based on the upcoming European final. He was adamant that there was nothing wrong with the likes of Vicario, Van de Ven, Romero, Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, and reinforced his desire to have each of his preferred back four available for the season-defining game against Manchester United on Wednesday.
“They are available,” he said. “For us, there is no point bringing them in. They were not going to play today. They stayed home. They had a really good, strong session.
“Come Wednesday, they are all available, that is the most important thing. That was the primary thing. When those guys play, the back four, with Vic in goal, our chances improve.”
Asked further on the subject, he merely added:
“Yeah, I don’t know how else to say it. They are available. If something happened to them today, I think they would not be available. I just don’t think that would be the smart course for us to take.”
Meanwhile, Emery expressed satisfaction with the performance of his team, as well as the result of their final game in front of home supporters this term. He also said a few nice words about the visitors and stressed that the top-five race is far from over.
“I am very happy and today we closed out our season here with our supporters trying to transmit our energy,” the Spanish coach said.
“We won, but there is still work to do to have a chance to play Champions League and we have to try and keep the inconsistencies down and focus.
“Spurs competed well and did a fantastic job. We were speaking at half-time about the difficulties we were facing and to be consistent and demanding in our game plan.”
Champions League race
There really isn’t much to say about Spurs’ position in the Premier League table, except that they are now directly above the already relegated trio of Ipwich Town, Leicester City and Southampton, with just 38 points from 37 games.
But for Villa, there’s everything to play for on the last matchday next week. At the moment, they are fifth with 66 points, the same as Newcastle in third and Chelsea in fourth, though the Magpies have a game in hand. Manchester City, in sixth place, also have a game in hand and potential victories against Bournemouth and Fulham would seal a place in the Champions League for Pep Guardiola’s side.
At this point, it’s looking very likely that it will come down to a fight between Villa and Chelsea, who face Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, respectively, away from home, in the final round. The goal-difference heavily favours the London Blues, but after the Europa League final, United might prove easier to deal with than Europe-chasing Forest.
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