Aston Villa climbed into the UEFA Champions League places after a crucial 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
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With Manchester City in FA Cup final action this weekend, Unai Emery’s Villa side took full advantage at Villa Park as goals from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara helped them leapfrog City into the top five.
Konsa opened the scoring just before the hour mark at Villa Park, getting his second league goal of the season with a first-time finish.
Kamara’s first goal in the competition then secured the hosts’ ninth win in 11 league matches, while condemning Spurs to their 21st top-flight defeat of the season.
Villa are now fifth, level on 66 points with Newcastle United and Chelsea, while Ange Postecoglou’s side remain in 17th spot.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
36 | +46 | 83 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
36 | +33 | 68 |
| 3 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
36 | +23 | 66 |
| 4 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
37 | +20 | 66 |
| 5 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
37 | +9 | 66 |
| 6 |
Man City
MCI
|
36 | +24 | 65 |
| 7 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
36 | +12 | 62 |
How the match unfolded
Both sides looked dangerous in attack, with John McGinn and Son Heung-min firing over from tight angles inside the opening quarter of an hour.
The two goalkeepers were called into action soon after. Emiliano Martinez denied Wilson Odobert's clever flick from Mathys Tel's low ball into the six-yard box, while, at the other end, Antonin Kinsky made a wonderful full-stretch save to thwart Morgan Rogers' deft volley.
Villa looked the more likely to break the deadlock before half-time. The impressive Marco Asensio curled narrowly wide from 20 yards, before Konsa headed straight at Kinsky.
However, Konsa was not to be denied as the hosts made the breakthrough in the 59th minute. Ollie Watkins headed McGinn's deep corner into the six-yard box, where the defender swept home an instinctive volley.
Watkins and McGinn went close to doubling the lead soon after before Kamara wrapped up what could be a pivotal three points in the Champions League race 14 minutes later, cutting inside from the right before drilling past Kinsky from the edge of the area.
In-form Villa boost Champions League hopes
With Man City not back in Premier League action until Tuesday, Villa knew this was an opportunity to apply the pressure on the recently dethroned champions.
Celebrating his 100th league match in charge of Villa, Emery was also hoping for a favour from Man Utd, who were taking on Chelsea, who have a superior goal difference, at Stamford Bridge.
The hosts looked threatening during the first half, though the tension inside Villa Park grew as the deadlock remained.
Nevertheless, the relief among the home faithful was evident when Konsa chose an ideal moment to score for the first time in the Premier League since September.
The omens were positive for Villa, who were unbeaten in their last 20 home matches in all competitions prior to this encounter and had not lost when scoring first at Villa Park all season.
They continued to push for a second goal and breathing space, which eventually arrived via another unlikely source in Kamara’s superb finish, and they did not look back.
Villa will hope another victory against Man Utd at Old Trafford on the final day is enough to secure a second successive Champions League campaign.
Toothless Spurs struggle in Europa League final audition
There is no denying the fact Spurs’ full attention will have been on Wednesday’s UEFA Europa League final. Nevertheless, this was a decent opportunity for players to stake their claim for a starting spot in Bilbao.
It was also an ideal platform to get their difficult Premier League form of one win in 10 matches back on track. After all, Villa Park had been a happy hunting ground for them in recent years.
Spurs looked invigorated during the first half, but little did they know that Odobert’s 16th-minute flick would represent their only attempt on target in the match.
Villa’s purposeful start to the second half eventually paid dividends with Konsa’s opener, and the visitors were unable to regain their footing.
They offered little in return as they struggled to find their rhythm in the attacking third, and when Kamara put the contest to bed soon after, Spurs’ hopes of a comeback evaporated.
However, that can be forgotten about for the time being, with focus now switching to their biggest game of the season, and a victory over Man Utd on Wednesday would provide a remarkable salvation to what has been an otherwise difficult campaign.
What the managers said
Unai Emery: "They [Spurs] competed well and did a fantastic job. We were consistent, demanding and when we scored the first goal, they gave up. Good luck to them in the final.
"We needed to manage the 90 minutes and we worked it fantastic. We are being demanding in this moment. We can get Champions League, fantastic."
Ange Postecoglou: "I thought up until they scored the boys worked hard, they were really disciplined and organised. We didn't really let them create too many openings. We had our moments as well going forward but once they scored we lost a little bit of belief.
"A lot of those guys haven't played a lot and we looked like we were fatiguing and then the game just got away from us."
Club reports
Aston Villa report | Spurs report
Final PL fixture
Key facts
Villa have scored nine Premier League goals from corners this season, their most in one season since 2009/10 (11).
Spurs have now lost 25 matches in all competitions this season, their joint-highest number of defeats in a single campaign in their history along with 1991/92.
Kamara's first Premier League goal came in his 69th game. Only Jlloyd Samuel (79 matches) and Wilfred Bouma (71) have had a longer wait for their first Villa goal in the competition.
For only the fourth time ever in a Premier League match, Spurs named as many as four players under the age of 21 in their starting XI (Gray, Tel, Moore, Odobert). It's the second time they’ve done it this season (also 26 February v Manchester City), out of just six instances overall in the division in 2024/25.