Aston Villa swept Tottenham Hotspur aside at Villa Park to put pressure on their rivals in the race for Champions League qualification and consign Ange Postecoglou’s team to their 21st defeat of the Premier League season.
Unai Emery’s side found a breakthrough when Ezri Konsa steered the ball home from a set piece on 59 minutes, before Boubacar Kamara doubled their lead to put the result beyond doubt.
Postecoglou rested a number of first-team players with one eye on Wednesday’s Europa League final against Manchester United, but one positive for his team was the bright performance of Son Heung-min, the club captain making his first start for more than a month.
The win takes Villa up to 66 points and into fifth — with five teams qualifying for next season’s Champions League — while Tottenham are 17th in the table with one game remaining.
In the night’s other match, Chelsea beat Manchester United to go level on points with Villa, but above them on goal difference and into fourth place. Sixth-placed Manchester City play their game in hand on Tuesday against Bournemouth.
Jacob Tanswell and Jay Harris analyse the key talking points…
Where does this result leave Villa in the race for fifth?
Villa knew they had to be peerless in the final two games to give themselves the best chance of sneaking into a Champions League spot. Until Tottenham’s visit, they had virtually been so, with only Newcastle United accruing more points in the previous eight fixtures.
Any dropped point felt costly, which added to the anxiety around Villa Park from the outset. The atmosphere was nervy and sometimes desperate, knowing Villa had to break down a defensively-minded Spurs team who were just looking to run the clock down and get out of the Midlands with any kind of result.
There was always a suspicion that if Villa could score first, the game would become much easier to manage. Konsa’s goal eased the anxiety and was dispiriting to a Spurs side with their minds focused on a European final.
Villa moved into fourth spot for the first time since November, momentarily anyway, until Chelsea broke the deadlock at Stamford Bridge to beat Manchester United and go above Villa on goal difference, on the same number of points (66).
If City win or draw against Bournemouth on Tuesday, it would push Villa to sixth with one round of matches to play next weekend. Villa’s final game is away to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Jacob Tanswell
How many of this Spurs team will start the Europa League final?
Over the last couple of months, Postecoglou has heavily rotated his team for Premier League fixtures in an attempt to keep his best players fresh for the knockout stages of the Europa League.
But with the final only a few days away, would Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke benefit from playing in a competitive match to keep them sharp?
Postecoglou dropped a hint that he would do something radical in his pre-match press conference when he said: “In a normal world you use this to sharpen up but we’re not living in a normal world. That’s the reality of our existence at the moment where we can’t lose another player to an injury. It’s just too finely balanced for us considering what’s at stake.”
Nobody expected to see Sergio Reguilon, whose contract expires next month, at left-back, while 17-year-old winger Mikey Moore made only his third start. Van de Ven, Romero and Destiny Udogie were not even included in the matchday squad. It means they will not have played a single minute since the semi-final second leg against Bodo/Glimt. Will the two-week break benefit them on Wednesday against United or make them rusty?
The only players who started against Villa who could retain their place for the final in Bilbao are Son, Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert and Pape Matar Sarr. Postecoglou will have a decision to make between Son, Tel, Odobert and Richarlison at left-wing, while injuries to Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski have opened up a space in central midfield for Sarr.
The Senegal international was replaced in the 51st minute by Yves Bissouma. It looked like Postecoglou was managing his minutes but the 22-year-old walked straight down the tunnel with a member of Tottenham’s medical staff.
Even with such a radical line-up, Postecoglou still ended the game stressing over the fitness of another player.
Interestingly, next Wednesday’s opponents Manchester United were at full-strength for their match away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Jay Harris
How did Son look on his first start since April 10?
Son Heung-min made his first start for Spurs in over a month as he attempted to prove his fitness ahead of the Europa League final against Manchester United on Wednesday evening.
The South Korea international has underperformed this season. He has only scored seven goals in 30 appearances; the last time he failed to reach double digits in the Premier League was his debut campaign in 2015-16. The 32-year-old forged part of an unconventional attack with Moore on the right, Odobert operating as an attacking midfielder and Tel as a centre-forward.
It was a surprise, then, that Son looked sharp and was Spurs’ biggest threat. There were multiple times in the first half where he spun in behind Matty Cash and caused Aston Villa problems on the counter. Just before half-time, he received the ball inside his own half following a defensive corner and raced past Kamara into Villa’s box. Son aimed his cross towards Tel and Odobert but it was slightly behind them.
On another occasion, intricate play between Odobert, Son and Reguilon down the left created a promising goalscoring opportunity. Son moved inside past Cash and curled an effort towards goal which went just over the bar.
This has been the frustration with Son this season. At his best, he is electric and an elite finisher but there have been too many games this season when he has failed to make an impact. Postecoglou has a huge decision to make next week as to whether he starts Tottenham’s captain, and their most influential player over the last decade along with Harry Kane, or leaves him on the bench. Son’s performance on Friday evening was a reminder of what he can offer.
Jay Harris
Villa have been able to grind out results when it matters most
Villa recorded their sixth clean sheet in nine fixtures since a galling 4-1 defeat away to Crystal Palace in February, which in retrospect, proved the start of a turnaround in form thereafter.
The number of clean sheets is twice as many as Villa had registered before that in the campaign and they have now kept three in succession — all in league wins.
At the defining juncture of the season, where nerves are understandably visible among players and the home supporters at Villa Park, they have found a way to grind out wins, turning one point into three and, consequently, move into fourth spot for the first time since November.
Rediscovered defensive solidity has proven the bedrock of Villa’s upturn in form and, crucially, has found a balance with Emery now being able to lean on goals from all areas of the pitch — as Konsa and Kamara demonstrated in the 2-0 victory.
Jacob Tanswell
This is a historically terrible league season for Spurs
Nobody learned anything new from Friday night’s defeat to Aston Villa but more grim records are about to be broken. Spurs have never finished below 15th in the Premier League but they are 17th with only Brighton left to play on the final day of the season. Postecoglou’s side need to win and hope other results go in their favour to avoid any further embarrassment.
They have not finished outside the top 10 since 2007-08 when they lost six of their opening 11 games and Martin Jol was sacked. This was their 21st league defeat of 2024-25. Southampton are the only team they have beaten in the league in the last three months.
If they do not lift the Europa League trophy next week, then they will have failed to qualify for a European competition for the second time in three years. Despite spending lots of money on Van de Ven, Romero, Maddison, Solanke and Brennan Johnson since Postecoglou became head coach, they have gone backwards.
Winning the Europa League might offer them salvation but defeat will confirm this as their worst season in recent memory.
Jay Harris
What did Emery say?
On Leon Bailey and Emiliano Martinez crying at full-time of Villa’s final home game of the season, with their futures at the club uncertain: “We are focused on the matches we are playing. Of course it’s the last match here. But I don’t know. We will see about the team and the players but they are responding on the field. They are so, so focused on how we are preparing and playing each match.
“Of course Leon Bailey is playing now less because other players are responding and performing very well. We are going to play in Manchester for the last three points and for us it will be important to prepare and to focus everybody. After then, of course we will see about everything in how we are going to try and get better for the next season.”
What did Postecoglou say?
“Pape (Sarr) felt something in his back so we took him off as a bit of a precaution,” Postecoglou said afterwards. “I don’t think it’s anything too significant speaking to him afterwards but he just felt something in his back.
“I think Mikey (Moore) was okay. It was fatigue as much as anything else (with Moore). He hasn’t played that sort of amount of minutes before.”
What next for Villa?
Sunday, May 25: Manchester United (Away), Premier League, 4pm UK, 11am ET
What next for Spurs?
Wednesday, May 21: Manchester United, Europa League final (Bilbao), 8pm UK, 3pm ET
(Top photo: DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)