Aston Villa secured a 2-1 win at Tottenham on Sunday, with goals from Pau Torres and Ollie Watkins sealing all three points.
Villa fell behind during a frantic opening to the game, and although it was partly down to impressive organisational defensive play, there was some fortune along the way too that prevented us from going further behind.
READ MORE: What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s win at Tottenham
The timing of Torres’ equaliser was critical just before half-time, and as Villa started to improve after the interval, Watkins was able to find the back of the net to put us ahead, having had an earlier effort ruled out for offside.
It’s a win that moves us into the top four in the Premier League table, and it’s hoped that we can continue this fine run of form against Bournemouth next weekend.
Unai Emery’s tactical class comes to the fore
There’s no denying that Villa were second best in the first half, as we not only came under a lot of pressure and were cut open by Tottenham consistently, but we couldn’t get going in possession.
In turn, something needed to change at half-time, and it was a big call to take Moussa Diaby off, despite the fact that he was poor in the opening 45 minutes.
The decision from Emery to introduce Youri Tielemans in particular, but also Leon Bailey, was decisive. It gave us more rhythm, control and direction to our play, and not only wrestled control away from Spurs, but allowed us to create threatening openings more consistently too.
Emi Martinez decisive yet again
We still needed Martinez to produce big moments though, and the World Cup winner didn’t disappoint.
He was commanding of his area throughout and swept up when needed, while his distribution was on point. However, he made two quick-fire saves in the second half that stood out in particular.
It protected our lead and allowed us to dictate the game in the way that we wanted to with our advantage, and so his role in the win, shouldn’t, and won’t, be underplayed.
Tielemans makes brilliant impact off the bench
Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn are all deserving of plaudits for their contributions during the win, but the impact Tielemans had off the bench in the second half was critical.
There was no link for Villa between defence and attack in the first half, as our passing patterns continuously broke down and long balls forward weren’t playing to the strengths of Diaby and Watkins. In turn, we kept surrendering possession quickly and cheaply, thus leading to more waves of attacks from Tottenham.
Tielemans added composure, technical ability and rhythm to our attacking play with his willingness to get on the ball and play passes. It was vital to our efforts to turn it around in the second half and get the win.
22 Premier League wins in 2023
That’s now 22 Premier League wins in 2023, more than in any other calendar year for Villa in what has been a special year thus far.
Our record under Emery has been exceptional, and results aside, the progress in terms of the level of our performance, tactical intelligence, personality and identity has also been a joy to watch as we’ve become an entertaining side week in and week out.
There are tough fixtures ahead between now and Christmas, but if we can keep players healthy, maintain our best form and continue to find tactical solutions consistently to adapt to the challenges different opposition sides pose, we’ll hopefully rack up a few more wins before the end of the year still.
Into the top four, big run ahead now
It’s an incredible achievement in itself that after 13 games this season, we’ve accumulated 28 points from nine wins, one draw and three defeats, scoring 31 goals and conceding just 18.
Only Manchester City have scored more goals than us in the top flight, while we have the seventh best defensive record in the league, which will no doubt be pinpointed as an area in need of improvement by Emery.
As reiterated by McGinn, Watkins and Emery in their respective post-match interviews though, there is a long way to go still and our feet are very much firmly planted to the ground. However, our form so far this season shows that we are capable of competing, and that should build belief and confidence to continue to execute our respective game-plans and sustain this push.
