Spurs blow Villa away in second-half rampage

LONDON — Dominic Solanke scored twice as Tottenham blitzed Aston Villa in the second half on Sunday, winning 4-1 to move just two points behind their rivals for a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Shortly after the break, Brennan Johnson cancelled out Morgan Rogers’ first-half opener for Villa, before a cascade of home goals late in the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Solanke produced a delicate dinked finish to put Spurs ahead in the 75th minute and scored another from close range before James Maddison added gloss with a sumptious free kick deep into stoppage time.

The result lifts Ange Postecoglou’s men to seventh in the table on 16 points — two behind Villa, who missed the chance to climb into third spot.

The Spurs boss, whose side lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace last week, said his men had shown they had “other gears” in the second half, praising Solanke for his performance.

“His goals are unbelievable but his general play, his work-rate, I can’t speak highly enough of him,” he told Sky Sports.

“Seven days is a long time in football.

Seven days ago I was a grumpy old so and so. We have to say true to the course we’re on.

“We made sure not to feel sorry for ourselves and are back to the team we want to be.”

Villa players wore training tops reading “Fuerza Valencia” during the warm-up, in solidarity with the victims of the deadly floods in Spain, the home country of Villa boss Unai Emery, who has managed Valencia.

Spurs had plenty of the ball early on but showed little penetration, despite the return of captain Son Heung-min from injury.

Rodrigo Bentancur’s shot from distance midway through the half landed on the roof of the net.

At the other end, Jacob Ramsey’s shot was deflected over the bar by Radu Dragusin before Amadou Onana headed against the post.

But seconds later Villa were ahead after Spurs failed to deal with Luca Digne’s corner, Rogers poking home in the 32nd minute after Guglielmo Vicario made an initial save.

It was the only shot on target either side mustered in the first half, continuing Spurs’ habit of conceding first and emphasising their problems dealing with set pieces.

Spurs could have been in deeper trouble had Ollie Watkins not skewed his shot wide shortly before half-time.

Postecoglou opted not to make changes at half-time and his side were level in the 49th minute when Johnson steered home Son’s inviting cross at the far post.

Minutes later Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez got a strong right hand to keep out Solanke’s close-range effort as Spurs found rhythm and intensity.

Villa captain John McGinn flashed just wide before Son was substituted — much to his surprise — as Postecoglou introduced Yves Bissouma and Richarlison.

The game became scrappy but Spurs seized the initiative when Dejan Kulusevski found Solanke, who finished cutely over the diving Martinez in the 75th minute.

Minutes later Villa lost the ball in midfield and Spurs broke at pace, with Pape Sarr feeding Richarlison, who crossed for Solanke to fire home.

Substitute Maddison made it 4-1 in the 96th minute, netting his 50th Premier League goal.

The defeat made it a miserable 53rd birthday for Emery, who had won on his past two visits to the stadium.

“When you are losing you have to try and get one step forward to try and change the result,” he said.

“But we know how difficult it is against Tottenham — 4-1 is a tough result but the match we played was more or less in line with the expectation I had before the match.

“We are disappointed, frustrated but we are accepting it.

We know our way, it is 38 matches, the league is very tight.”