Spurs v Aston Villa: Van Der Vaart Bags A Brace

Oh, the agony of being a Villa fan, never secure in the lead. This emotion was once again felt at White Heart Lane, where the visitors couldn’t hold on to the lead, falling at the feet and feats of Rafael van der Vaart. While Emile Heskey played superbly, he picked up a knock, forcing John Carew to come on in his place—and the rest of the match was Villa’s to lose, as Kevin McCauley points out:

Well, that was a bit of a roller coaster ride.

After Mark Albrighton's tap-in goal, I thought that Spurs were going to be in for a very long match...When Roman Pavlyuchenko was substituted off for Aaron Lennon at halftime, I thought "we're going to win, Villa are screwed."

Heskey was spectacular today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play that well, holding up play, moving gracefully on the pitch, hustling about. It was his combination of speed (!) and muscle that won and kept the ball in the Tottenham end, which he then slid through to Marc Albrighton for Villa’s goal.