Villa blown away by slick Spurs and McGinn madness
Premier League: Aston Villa 0 Tottenham Hotspur 4
AFTER four goals kept Tottenham very much in the hunt for the top four, James Maddison needed just four words to sum up their domination of this mismatch.
Aston Villa's grip on the final Champions League qualifying place was significantly loosened by opponents who now trail Unai Emery's side by only two points, with a game in hand following a statement win at Villa Park.
"We blew them away," reflected Maddison, one of four second-half goal-scorers in a contest as one-sided as the scoreline suggested. The hosts played for more than half an hour at a numerical disadvantage after John McGinn rightly saw red for one of the worst challenges you will see this or any other season, but that should in no way be used in mitigation.
Villa were sinking fast long before their skipper's unfathomable idiocy, not that Ollie Watkins could discard the claret and blue blinkers sufficiently when asked about the Scot's near assault on Destiny Udogie with 25 minutes remaining which will rule the midfielder out of the next three games.
"The sending off I think is harsh," insisted Watkins, who barely had a sniff all game in his quest to add to the 16 Premier League goals he has scored this season. "Obviously it looks a little bit reckless because it's in front of their bench and there's a big reaction from their side.
"We're really disappointed and it's a tough result to take but there's still a lot of football to play, I believe in us and Champions League qualification is in our hands."
It isn't if they surrender as tamely as they did in the second half as Tottenham stretched to 39 the number of consecutive games in which they have scored as they close in on the Premier League record of 50.
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