Tottenham Hotspur

SPURSPLAY

The midfielder was outstanding alongside Joao Palhinha and goalscorer Conor Gallagher in the engine room as we dominated proceedings at Villa Park.

However, Rodrigo required treatment after sitting down on the turf after 67 minutes and was immediately replaced by Yves Bissouma.

Thankfully though, it was nothing to worry about. Asked if Rodrigo was okay in his post-match press conference, Roberto replied: "Yes, Bentancur was just tired."

Here's what he had to say...

What made you most proud about that performance?

Roberto: "I'm very happy, very pleased for the performance. We won a great game against a great Aston Villa. Okay, they have to play on Thursday, a very important game for them but, anyway, it's always very tough playing against Emery, against this Villa and in this stadium, a very nice stadium, and for that I'm really pleased. I'm really pleased for the performance with the ball, without the ball. Without the ball we showed a great courage and with the ball, great qualities. I'm happy for this type of performance, more than three points, because three points, okay we are one point more than West Ham, but the most important thing tonight, is to play a great game, to believe more and more in ourselves, to believe in our qualities. Then we have to keep the focus on the improvement we have to do, because we have to play like the first half for 90 minutes. I didn't like the goal we conceded, but there are a lot of positive things today."

When you arrived, there was a feeling that Spurs' biggest problem was a lack of confidence, a squad lacking in confidence. Can you describe the transformation you've seen in that regard?

Roberto: "Listen, I'm honest. I have one face. If I say Kolo Muani, Gallagher, Palhinha and all our players are great level, big level, it's because I feel. I don't want to sell something if I don't believe in my words. I'm lucky because I'm working with very good players, good people and very good players. My work, my job is just to transfer the confidence, to believe in themselves and to try to be stronger than the defeat, stronger that the position of the table, stronger than the words all of you normally say about Tottenham - and to show passion, to show value, humility, pride."

What did you make of the midfield performance - Palhinha, Bentancur, Gallagher?

Roberto: "They played with the ball and without the ball, an amazing game. Xavi Simons and Solanke, both are top players for us, but Kolo Muani is different as a characteristic, but not as a quality. You're not watching the best Kolo Muani, but Kolo Muani is a top player. Mathys Tel is very young, but he has amazing potential as a player. Richarlison is playing in the Brazilian national team. I'm lucky because I have a lot of players. Now, I think the injuries are finished, because otherwise it's a big problem, but I'm lucky and for that I'm not surprised. I said two days ago in a press conference, if we win in Villa Park it's not a miracle. It was not a miracle."

Do you feel confidence is building in the group?

Roberto: "Yes, but the crucial thing now is to keep in our heads what was the situation before the Wolverhampton game. This is the most important memory to keep in our heads because in football it's very easy to change. If you lose you are stupid, if you win you are a champion. No, we have to find the balance. We have to work this week, because Leeds is another very tough game and to remember in ourselves what we have done in the past, in the last month."

Is Rodrigo Bentancur okay?

Roberto: "Yes, Bentancur was just tired."

You mentioned the word passion. I noticed that every time a player won a tackle they were celebrating...

Roberto: "Yeah, I love Palhinha..."

Is that something you've asked for, you've demanded?

Roberto: "No, no, they have not to follow me in this but if I saw one player like passionate, I become crazy."

Were you surprised that Villa made so many changes? Any surprise at that?

Roberto: "No, they have to play one historic game on Thursday. They lost three days ago and I think they need two or three points, maybe less, to achieve another very important target. I think in football we love speaking about the project. Yes, in football, one of the not too many projects is like Aston Villa. In the last four years they have done school in terms of project, because I remember the first game, the beginning of Emery in Aston Villa, was at the bottom of the table and now they became one of the best teams in the Premier League. They deserve everything. In this stadium, I lost two games but when I have played against Aston Villa with Emery it has been all the time a very, very tough game, very difficult to find the line-pass to everything."

You said you wanted to get the 'Chelsea version' of Conor Gallagher back. Do you feel you've got it?

Roberto: "Yes, absolutely - when Gallagher plays like this, we play with 12 players because you can find him as a striker, as a midfielder, as a full-back, everywhere on the pitch you can find him. Great player, great passion, great qualities. Great player."

Kevin Danso has given you everything...

Roberto: "He is playing very well. I think with the ball he can play better and he knows what I mean. Maybe he is not used to playing a lot of balls and to take control of the game but he is a great guy for sure. I have no doubt he will improve quickly."

Can I just check on Micky van de Ven, it looked like he maybe rolled his ankle late on?

Roberto: "No, no, no. He's okay."

Does it continue to surprise you that this team, this squad of players, is struggling against relegation rather than challenging for the Champions League places?

Roberto: "Yes, I am surprised but you have to consider the league we are playing in. The Premier League is tough. If you suffer so many injuries, if you don't find a win for a long time, if you lose the confidence in yourself, game by game it becomes worse and worse. You have to stop. You have to find the right momentum to restart. Also Nottingham Forest is an important team, important club and important players and they suffered until one month ago. They were in a very bad situation and in the Premier League, that can happen."

We climbed back out of the bottom three as goals from Conor Gallagher and Richarlison rewarded a convincing display at Villa Park. Emiliano Buendia scored a late consolation for Villa, but such was our dominance, when Joao Palhinha blocked Morgan Rogers' shot on 62 minutes, it was Villa's first effort at goal - we'd had nine.

Rodrigo Bentancur struck the woodwork and Randal Kolo Muani had a point-blank chance saved by Emiliano Martinez in between Conor and Richy's goals. Conor drilled home from 20 yards - his first goal for us - on 12 minutes. Richy headed home Mathys Tel's cross on 25. That secured back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time since August.

Speaking to us afterwards at Villa Park, Roberto reflected: "Not surprised, no - very pleased. I'm happy because when you work with young people and you can see the improvement, you can see they start to believe in themselves more and more, you are happy, no?

"Yes, we can improve in the style of play with the ball, without the ball, but the most important thing for Tottenham, I think, has been to transfer the confidence, to believe in themselves. I believe, I like my players. I think they have a different level than the fight for the relegation."

Asked if he saw a different mentality, Roberto replied: "Absolutely, absolutely, with the high pressure. We are used to speaking about football - high pressure, but what is right pressure? Right pressure is organisation, but courage, mentality, spirit, the right attitude to go to regain the ball and to go to score.

"With the ball, especially in the first half, we showed our qualities. Palhinha and Bentancur in midfield were fantastic. I'm really pleased for Kolo Muani and Mathys Tel because they played a fantastic game. I pleased for the goal of Richarlison.

"Gallagher... when Gallagher plays this level of performance, we played with 12 players because you can find him everywhere on the pitch. Pedro Porro and Udogie, I think they have a first level in the world. So, I'm very happy."

After a solid performance in our 2-2 draw with Brighton and a battling result to beat Wolves 1-0 last time out, this display at Villa Park married the two together as our players were superb to a man and gave everything to secure a vital three points in the Premier League.

Pressing with intent and organisation from the off and showing composure and confidence in possession, a dominant first half ended with us two goals up at the break thanks to the tireless Conor Gallagher's first Spurs strike on 12 minutes and Richarlison's 10th league goal of the campaign in the 25th minute.

Still with a lot to do to see out the win after the interval, the work-rate was faultless and we controlled proceedings throughout that even a late stoppage-time goal from Villa's Emiliano Buendia ended being a mere consolation on the night.

So, with West Ham losing 3-0 to Brentford on Saturday afternoon, tonight's success moves us out of the bottom three - what did you make of it all?

Have your say in the comments below...

To a man, the players were outstanding, Gallagher in particular covering every blade of grass after opening his account for us with a precision strike from distance as we won the vast majority of our duels, kept possession well and closed Villa down quickly whenever they had the ball, blocking shots and crosses and making tackles with determination.

Richarlison’s powerful header on 25 minutes gave us a cushion and from there we controlled the game for the most part, Villa only grabbing a consolation in the dying seconds when Emi Buendia headed into the top corner for his third goal in as many games against us this season. It was a minor blot on our copybook, though, as we made it back-to-back league wins for the first time since the start of the season to move a point above West Ham in the final relegation spot with three games remaining.

More to follow...

Signe Gaupset fired us ahead inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour at Brisbane Road – her third goal of the season – before a stunner from Olivia Holdt doubled our lead in the first half and, although former Spur Alanna Kennedy pulled one back, those two strikes were enough to claim maximum points.

While the result sees us secure our spot in fifth, eight points ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion who we meet in our season finale, it saw us take our points tally to 33 for the term – our highest-ever in a single WSL campaign.

It beats our record from 2021/22, where we accumulated 32 points to finish fifth-place, and we have still have one more fixture – the Seagulls away on Saturday 16 May – to add even more to our tally to round off a memorable first year under Martin Ho.

Plus, the victory over London City also sees us reach double figures of wins in a single WSL season – again, a record we have beaten from the 2021/22 season (nine).

Points tally in each WSL season

Roberto De Zerbi has made four changes to the side which started our 1-0 win over Wolves last Saturday.

Following injuries to Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke at Molineux, there are two enforced changes with Mathys Tel and Richarlison brought in from the start.

The returning Destiny Udogie replaces Djed Spence and the final swap sees match-winner from last time out Joao Palhinha come in for Yves Bissouma in midfield.

Pape Matar Sarr also returns to the matchday squad having missed the last two games through injury with a place amongst our substitutes.

Starting XI: Kinsky, Danso, Palhinha, Richarlison, Tel, Udogie, Gallagher, Pedro Porro, Bentancur, van de Ven (c), Kolo Muani.

Substitutes: Austin, Dragusin, Bissouma, Maddison, Gray, Bergvall, Spence, Sarr, Souza.

Here's how hosts Villa line up...

Starting XI: Martinez, Cash, Lindelof, Mings (c), Barkley, Tielemans, Abraham, Sancho, Maatsen, Bogarde, Rogers.

SPURSPLAY

Signe Gaupset got us off to the perfect start to net the opener after just 12 minutes at Brisbane Road and that was then followed by a sensational strike from Olivia Holdt, around 25 yards out and into the top corner, to double our advantage by the half hour mark.

We had a number of opportunities to further extend our lead but were unable to find th breakthrough once again before former Spur Alanna Kennedy struck in the 90th-minute to pull one back for the visitors.

That ultimately created a nervy ending in front of our Lilywhite fanbase, but we dug deep to ensure we came away with three points and sees us break our record points tally (33) in a single season in the competition.

“From start to finish, I thought we were good,” Martin told us, reflecting on the win with SPURSPLAY. “I thought we had large moments where we were very good and we had some lapses in concentration, where I felt we let them back in at times. But overall, I'm really, really pleased.

“We've taken big steps, not just as a team, but individually. I think that's a big part of football, how you develop individually as staff and players, and we've come together and really pushed as much as we can.

“Today, we were the deserved winners of the game, overall. We maybe should have capitalised on a few more chances that we had, but then we showed the different sides of us when we had to defend.

“We'll be disappointed to concede that goal because I think we were in good control, but you know good sides are going to have chances. We just have to make sure moving forward that we try and take those goals away.”

On the ruthless opening 30 minutes to get ahead in the contest…

“When you get into those positions, you want your players to be brave enough to take the shots and strike at goal. Siggy had done it really well from really good pressure, and then Olivia, outside the box in terms of working half a yard and shooting - you know those two players are capable of scoring goals if we get them in those positions. There were some other chances we should have capitalised on. Going forward, I'm sure we were better in those areas. We just need now to make sure we keep pushing forward and moving forward.”

On Signe dropping deeper to partner alongside Drew Spence and how that allows her to express herself on the pitch…

“I think if you look at the way we play with the ball and how we progress the ball, it's really, really good. Some of our build-up was very good. I think what that allows is Drew and Siggy to be more flexible in that build-up phase. With them in there, it allows Siggy to go free up and play slightly higher, knowing you've got the experience and the quality of Drew behind her.”

On playing at home for the final time this campaign and the supporters throughout the game…

“They've come out every single home game we've had here. We've made it difficult for teams and they've played a huge part in that, making sure that their noise is loud, their energy is good - through good and bad parts of the games, they push us through and they let us know when they want more from us. I can't thank them anymore.

“Home or away this year, they've been outstanding. I want to make sure that they get a lot of the applauders for what we've achieved this year in terms of the points tally being the highest. We've had some really good performances at home and have one of the best records, so I want to make sure that continues next year, but we have to give them a lot of thanks because everything we do is for them.”

On making sure the focus remains fully on the final game despite the achievements reached this afternoon…

“One more game to go and we want to make sure that we keep pushing in those games to make sure that we get over the line and no game at any point, whether we think we're in a position where we can't move from, we have to really push forward into next year and you want to continue that momentum going to Brighton - and that gives you confidence and belief going into next season.”

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