That wasn't a bad way to bounce back from humiliation against West Ham. Tottenham Hotspur travelled to Villa Park on a low, but they'll leave with all three points after a very comfortable 2-0 win. Spurs didn't play quite as well as they might have liked, but they were never seriously threatened and following Roberto Soldado's first goal from open play, which came in the 69th minute, they saw the match out comfortably.
Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Final score 0-2, Spurs bounce back with comfortable win
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The visitors spent much of the half on the back foot, but Hugo Lloris was largely untroubled regardless. And Spurs' quality showed just after the half hour mark through Andros Townsend, who followed up a fantastic international break with the game's opening goal. The winger produced an inswinging cross, which despite missing both Soldado and Lewis Holtby crept into the bottom corner, with Brad Guzan helpless.
The goal settled Tottenham down, and they spent the rest of the half -- and the early stages of the second -- well on top. Villa's only real option was to introduce Christian Benteke, who was fit for a substitute appearance after an injury layoff.
Lambert threw on the striker an hour in, and the hosts immediately stepped up the pressure, with Benteke causing problems whenever he moved into the box. But just when it looked like Villa would be able to salvage the points, Spurs hit them on the counterattack, with Paulinho flicking on for Soldado, who claimed his first non-penalty goal with a cool finish to kill off the game and secure the points.
Aston Villa starting lineup (4-3-3): Brad Guzan; Antonio Luna, Nathan Baker, Ron Vlaar, Leandro Bacuna; Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi; Gabriel Agbonlahor, Libor Kozak (Christian Benteke 61'), Andreas Weimann.
Tottenham Hotspur starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris; Jan Vertonghan, Vlad Chiriches, Michael Dawson, Kyle Walker; Sandro, Paulinho; Gylfi Sigurdsson (Aaron Lennon 66'), Lewis Holtby (Moussa Dembele 73'), Andros Townsend; Roberto Soldado.
Goals: Townsend 31’, Soldado 69’.
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