Big Ange was right all along. If you want to grow a beautiful garden, you’ve got to handle some fertiliser. After 45 minutes of pure compost, Tottenham served up a fragrant bed of roses as two-goal Dominic Solanke denied lacklustre Villa the chance to go third.
Unai Emery’s side led at the break, but it turns out they were only leading us up the garden path. This was a rare taste of capital punishment for Villa, who had won nine of their previous 13 Premier League away games in London under Emery - the best ratio by a manager at a single club since Richard Keys and Andy Gray invented football in 1992.
If your Bonfire Night pyre is as soggy and unresponsive as Villa’s collapse, it will have no spark, it won’t catch fire and you’ll wonder why you bothered.
But Tottenham, who have closed to within two points of the neighbours down the Seven Sisters Road, were in full bloom after Ange Postecoglou’s fertiliser therapy.
And the chuntering which greeted the Spurs ringmaster’s decision to hook skipper Heung-min Son after 56 minutes had long turned to exultation by the time James Maddison’s exquisite free-kick in stoppage time completed a stirring second-half revival.
If it wasn’t an instant triumph of flower power, Postecglou’s tactical tweaks and half-time recital of home truths was a timely reminder that Tottenham are not to be discounted in the scramble for a top-four finish.
Solanke, warming to his role as Harry Kane’s replacement, said: “It all came together in the second half. We had to adapt to the way they were playing, and at half-time we had time to regroup. When we are playing well, we can score so many goals. We haven't managed to do it the whole season but we think we're capable of it.”
Apart from Rodrigo Bentancur’s dipping 25-yard effort, the first half-hour was a cure for insomnia until Villa punctured the tedium.
Guglielmo Vicario did well to shovel Amadou Onana’s header to safety at the foot of his post, but from Lucas Digne’s resulting corner, Tottenham’s enduring fallibility at set pieces was exposed yet again.
In the chaos, Pedro Porro’s inadvertent flick at the near post hit Bentancur, who was spared the ignominy of an own goal by Vicario’s reflexes, but Morgan Rogers devoured the rebound from point-blank range.
Rogers has yet to break into an England squad, but if interim Three Lions boss Lee Carsley is paying attention in the transit lounge before he hands over poisoned chalice to Thomas Tuchel, the first call-up can’t be far away.
Last season, Postecoglou channelled his inner Billy Joel when anyone dared to suggest Tottenham had a problem defending set pieces, growling: “You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for.”
In fairness, apart from Gabriel’s winner in the north London derby two months ago, Spurs had looked more secure from dead-ball threats this term.
The great Aussie grizzly bear must hope Rogers’ third goal of the season was a mere flashback, not the return of bad habits. In any event, Spurs emerged from their 45 minutes of torpor re-energised - and within four minutes they were level.
Son, returning from injury, whipped in a fiendish cross from the left and Brennan Johnson, arriving at the far post unaccompanied, did the rest for his seventh goal of the season. Within two minutes, Villa keeper Emi Martinez denied the previously-tethered Solanke with a brilliant one-handed save from 12 yards.
Son, who had been increasingly effective after a quiet start, looked miffed to be withdrawn moments later, tapping his chest as if to ask, ‘Why me?’
But any dissent over Postecoglou’s reshuffle evaporated when Dominic Solanke dinked a fine finish over the advancing Martinez from Dejan Kulusevski’s sublime pass with 15 minutes left.
You don’t know what you’re doing, eh? Its turns out that Big Ange had Villa’s number all along. No sooner had Solanke’s first goal since September arrived than another came along four minutes later.
Pau Torres needlessly coughed up possession inside his own half, and Villa were cut to ribbons by Pape Matar Sarr and Richarlison’s incisive passes, leaving Solanke a tap-in from six yards.
Sub Maddison’s sublime free-kick, curled around a poorly-aligned wall, was the effigy on the bonfire. Light the blue touchpaper and stand well back. Tottenham are ready to catch fire.
