Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur

Aston Villa’s three-game winning run in the Premier League came to an end against Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park on Sunday.

The sides couldn’t be separated during a cagey first half, with Lucas Digne’s glancing header the closest either team came to a goal.

But Spurs found their attacking rhythm early in the second half and struck twice in the space of three minutes via James Maddison and Brennan Johnson.

Things became harder for the hosts when John McGinn was shown a straight red card for challenge on Destiny Udogie after 65 minutes.

And despite toiling hard in search of a way back into the game, Heung-min Son and Timo Werner netted in stoppage time.

Ahead of kick-off, Villa Park came together to remember two-time League Cup winner Chris Nicholl, who sadly passed away last month, with a tribute and rousing applause for our former defender.

On the pitch, Matty Cash, McGinn and Leon Bailey returned to the starting XI to face Spurs as Unai Emery made three changes from Thursday’s 0-0 draw against Ajax.

The teams began the match separated by five points and one place in the table, and there was little to choose between them during a cagey first half.

There were no chances of note for either side as the defences resigned supreme until Digne glanced a header narrowly wide in stoppage time.

In stark contrast to the opening 45 minutes, the second half sprung to life immediately as Villa enjoyed a couple of menacing attacks.

But after they failed to materialise into anything, Spurs forged ahead when Pape Matar Sarr sprung the offside trap and crossed to the centre for Maddison, who poked the ball beyond Emi Martínez.

Buoyed by the opener, Tottenham struck again three minutes later via Johnson. The winger applied the finishing touch after the visitors won the ball high up the pitch and broke through with a three-on-one.

McGinn was leading the home side’s response, pushing his side on and creating an opening with a dangerous ball across the face of goal, which Guglielmo Vicario was only just able to deal with.

However, in his attempts to galvanize his team, the Villa captain was shown a straight red by referee Chris Kavanagh for a tackle on Udogie.

The ten men in claret and blue battled on valiantly for the remaining 25 minutes and would have had something to show for their efforts had Vicario not denied Nicolo Zaniolo from point-blank range.

But it was at the other end that the scoring was wrapped up via late strikes from Son and substitute Werner.