Harry Redknapp took a gamble on Rafael van der Vaart by playing him despite his injury concerns. However, the Dutch midfielder was once again instrumental as he found both goals for Harry to give his team victory against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Houllier’s Aston Villa.
Tottenham played for almost an hour with ten men, as their only striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jermain-Defoe-c18359 was shown a straight red card in the 27th minute. However, Aston Villa could not take advantage of the situation. However, a goal was pulled back in the last
ten minutes by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marc-Albrighton-c23470 but it was not enough in the end. The North London side won the match by 2-1 after a hard fought battle.
For the visit to Villa Park, Redknapp chose a strong side reinforced by the return of the prolific midfielder and Tottenham’s top-scorer, Van der Vaart. Jermain Defoe was playing as the forward in front the Dutch midfielder, while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Bale-c14422
and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-c31639 was left on the bench despite playing a vital role in recent weeks for the team.
Gomes, the goalkeeper for Tottenham, was brought into action from the very beginning of the match. In the opening minute, Gomes saved an effort from Albrighton and the resulting rebound was cleared by Gareth Bale. After a few moments, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gabriel-Agbonlahor-c14288
had a chance from a free header, but the youngster nodded it wide of the target.
In the opening ten minutes, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emile-Heskey-c12468 was brought down in the penalty area by Gomes and there were shouts for a penalty. However, it was a tight call and referee gave the benefit of the doubt to the hosts. This was a deciding moment for the match because
it caused an injury to the striker who required some treatment and was taken off the pitch at the end of first period.
Heskey was involved in a couple of moves that called Gomes to save the day for Spurs. First, Agbonlahor and Heskey were involved in a great move and played http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Stewart-Downing-c34221 whose shot was blocked by Gomes. Again, the two players were involved in a great one-two
but Gomes came to the rescue. The ball rebounded from the goalkeeper but Agbonlahor was not able to take advantage of the loose ball and Gomes made a great clearance.
Tottenham had a chance as well, but the striker from their defender, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alan-Hutton-c4253. The video footage, on the other hand, showed that the assistant had made a mistake. It was a frustrating
moment for Tottenham but they soon got their much-deserved lead through Van der Vaart. Bale made a great pass to Hutton who gave a low cross towards the goal which was met by the Dutch midfielder. Van der Vaart made no mistake and scored the goal from a very
close distance.
This was a time when Spurs should have taken control of the game but a foul was committed by Defoe who shot his elbow in the face of Collins. Defoe was shown a straight red card and Tottenham had to pull back for a little while, giving many opportunities
to Villa to attack.
There were not any other worthwhile moments until the hour mark, as both teams had their chances but could not capitalise. In the 63rd minute, Tottenham doubled their lead through Van der Vaart once again. He was incredibly setup by Bale and Lennon,
the latter playing the final pass to the Dutchman.
Gomes produced another great save to keep Albrighton out, but the forward got his way past the Spurs goalkeeper in the 82nd minute.
In the end, Tottenham won the match and remained in the fifth place in league table. Aston Villa is ten positions behind in 15th place and is really struggling to make a mark in the league.
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