‘On it’ from the first whistle, leading our press alongside Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur, Conor made his mark with 12 minutes on the clock at Villa Park, controlling a clearance from Kevin Danso’s long throw, turning inside Tammy Abraham and drilling low into the corner from 25 yards – a great strike. Richarlison doubled our lead after 25 minutes and it stayed that way until Emiliano Buendia’s header for a Villa consolation deep into added time.
We remained aggressive in our press, on the front foot, controlled in possession and thoroughly deserved a win that lifted us out of the Premier League’s bottom three with three games remaining.
Conor was at the heart of it. Speaking to us afterwards, the midfielder was asked how big a night it was for him personally – and how much of a special moment it was to see his strike nestle in the corner.
He told us: “Obviously, it's been a difficult few months for me, for the whole club. This is what I do best - off the ball, I work my hardest for the team, I'm a team player. I try and do what I do best, and I think today the fans were able to see that.
“I want to keep doing that as best as I can to make the fans proud, to make the club proud and hopefully help Tottenham keep playing like that and getting more wins.”
“The goal was massive. If I'm being honest, I wasn't thinking about me for a second when I scored. Normally, if you score your first goal for the club, you're really relieved for yourself, you're like, ‘okay, first goal, I can relax’, but I had none of that feeling because I was so focused on going again and continuing to play well that game.
“I knew how important the three points were, how important the performance was. I'm really proud of the team to continue for 90 minutes in that way. Obviously, after the game, sitting down and relaxing, just knowing that it was my first goal for this great club, I'm so happy and I'm so proud. I'm thankful for all the fans tonight showing their support to me as well.
“I’ve said it before, the fans make such a difference in games like that, tough away games against a club that's had a great season. They fed off how we were on the pitch. They could see how hungry and hard we were working and it's great to see for them. I'm just so happy that we can give them that feeling tonight of a great performance and a win and they were part of it as well.”