TOTTENHAM FANS TERRIFIED ACE WILL START EL FINAL AFTER ‘TERRIBLE ‘ DISPLAY VS ASTON VILLA
Tottenham lost 2-0 at Aston Villa in their penultimate Premier League match of the season on Friday night and here are our Spurs player ratings from the game.
Ange Postecoglou went for a much-changed Tottenham line-up to the one that will likely play in the Europa League final against Manchester United in Bilbao on Wednesday. It does mean though that a number of players will be without any match action in their legs for almost two weeks by the time the game in Spain comes around but the injury to Dejan Kulusevski, who required surgery to his patella in his right knee, looks to have shaken the Spurs boss.
Postecoglou handed Son Heung-min his first start since mid-April, with a first Premier League start of the season for Sergio Reguilon and 17-year-old Mikey Moore was also handed a start while Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie did not even travel and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was on the bench with the rest of the likely starters in the final.
The first half brought an organised display from the makeshift Spurs line-up and they had a few good chances through Son and Wilson Odobert, while Antonin Kinsky made a great save from Ollie Watkins.
In the second half Villa found the breakthrough after the hour mark when Ezri Konsa hooked home after a corner was headed into the six-yard box. Villa scored a second with just over 15 minutes remaining. Boubacar Kamara found space on the edge of the box and his low shot flew past Kinsky.
Here are our Tottenham player ratings after that 21st Premier League defeat of the season:
Antonin Kinsky
Made a brilliant reaction save from Watkins 19 minutes in. Sent Odobert away with a great throw early in the second half only for the Frenchman to take a poor first touch. Saved well from Watkins soon after but couldn’t do much about the two Villa goals soon after that, with one from close range and the other he seemed unsighted for the powerful low Boubacar effort. 8
Djed Spence
Some sloppy passing in the first half, but he tried to get Spurs up and down the right flank and defended without too much cover. 6
Kevin Danso
Made an important block to deny Watkins and was one of Spurs’ better performers on the day. 7
Ben Davies
Played a lovely early ball into Son’s path to send him away down the left. Was better than the scoreline suggests. 6
Sergio Reguilon
Considering it was only his second start of the season, he wasn’t off the pace particularly. Succumbed to what looked like a knock on 74 minutes and was replaced. 6
Mikey Moore
Got around 84 minutes before picking up an issue and he worked hard but didn’t produce enough. The 17-year-old has the ability to take people on but seemed reluctant to do it. 5
Archie Gray
Picked up a yellow card for a late challenge on Watkins. Other than that was disciplined in the first half but got a bit ragged in the second period and was too late rushing out to Boubacar before switching to left-back. 5
Pape Matar Sarr
Helped Spurs remain organised in the first half but came off early in the second half and went straight off down the tunnel with a member of the medical staff. 6
Son Heung-min
Curled a shot over the crossbar from the edge of the Villa box 15 minutes in. Had a couple of bright runs and got 74 minutes into his legs. He looked bright when Spurs could get him the ball. 6
Wilson Odobert
Saw a lovely back flick saved by Martinez early in the game. Other than that he struggled to carve out opportunities and probably didn’t do enough to claim a go at the 10 spot in the final. 5
Mathys Tel
Another energetic display and he set up Odobert for the chance in the first half. Probably one player who is pushing for a chance in the final. 6
Subs
Yves Bissouma
Gave the ball away for Villa’s corner they scored from and gave Konsa the space to do so. Then stepped away from Boubacar as he ran on, expecting a pass. A pretty poor cameo from the midfielder and he’ll have to be much better on Wednesday. 4