Tottenham Hotspur hammered 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 in the Premier League on Sunday thanks to four second-half goals, allowing it to close the gap with its Birmingham rivals to two points in the chase for Champions League football next season.
Villa’s decision to start with a five-man backline cost it dearly in the second half as it conceded four times, with John McGinn getting sent off for a violent tackle that will likely incur a three-match ban.
Starting the day fourth, five points ahead of its fifth-placed visitors, Villa struggled from the off as Spurs pressed it high up the pitch and forced it to turn over the ball.
Villa had an appeal for a penalty turned down in the 34th minute as Leon Bailey went tumbling under an innocuous challenge from Yves Bissouma, and its only promising chance of the first half came in stoppage time as Lucas Digne sent a looping header just wide from a well-worked corner.
Spurs struck twice early in the second half with James Maddison volleying the opener in the 50th minute and Son Heung-min setting up Brennan Johnson to net the second three minutes later after Villa gave the ball away cheaply.
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Any chance the home side had of staging a comeback all but disappeared when McGinn was shown a straight red card in the 65th minute for clattering Spurs defender Destiny Udogie.
With Villa on the ropes, Spurs captain Son swept home the third a minute into stoppage time, and he notched his second assist of the afternoon by setting up substitute Timo Werner to score three minutes later.
The 4-0 victory moves Spurs to 53 points, two behind Villa with the London side also having a game in hand and a better goal difference.
Ings rescues West Ham with late equaliser in 2-2 draw with Burnley
West Ham United’s Danny Ings scored a stoppage-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw against Burnley at the London Stadium on Sunday to deny his former club their first Premier League victory of 2024.
Danny Ings of West Ham United scores a goal past James Trafford of Burnley which is later ruled out for offside during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Burnley FC. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
David Fofana gave Burnley a shock lead in the 11th minute with a rocket from outside the box to end their goal drought in the league. West Ham’s day went from bad to worse on the stroke of halftime when defender Konstantinos Mavropanos scored an own goal, but Lucas Paqueta halved Burnley’s lead with a solo goal just 30 seconds into the second half.
Substitute Ings had one goal ruled out for offside in the build-up minutes after coming on but he made it 2-2 in the 91st minute when he controlled Mohammed Kudus’s cross, turned on the spot and fired home as the two teams shared the spoils.
Own goal hands Brighton 1-0 win over struggling Forest
A first-half own goal helped Brighton & Hove Albion stretch their Premier League unbeaten home streak to a club record-extending 12 matches as they beat relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
The home side, who came into the contest off the back of three defeats across all competitions, were the better side throughout the first half and got the lead in the 29th minute after defender Andrew Omobamidele accidentally bundled the ball into his own net following a free-kick.
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