Van der Vaart scores twice as Spurs beat Villa

Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart marked his return to the Tottenham starting line up with a brace of goals as Spurs defeated Aston Villa at Villa Park.

It was the latest impressive display in what has been a fantastic season for the former Real Madrid midfielder as Spurs enjoyed a quite comfortable win despite playing with only ten men for over an hour, after Jermain Defoe was harshly sent off for leading with his elbow in an aerial challenge with James Collins in the first half.

Spurs had already taken the lead at that stage through Van der Vaart who sidefooted home from six yards from Alan Hutton’s cross after Hutton had been superbly released down the right by Luka Modric.

The sending off seemed to have little effect on the visitors as they kept possession well and enjoyed the majority of the chances before the break. Villa were slightly better after half time, but it was Spurs who struck the first blow in the second half, with Van der Vaart applying the finishing touches to what was a fabulous Spurs counter attack after 67 minutes.

Gareth Bale began the charge with a galloping run down the right wing; he cut inside and beat two players before laying the ball off to Aaron Lennon. Lennon cut the the ball back to the onrushing Van der Vaart who swept the ball home from 12 yards with his trusty left boot.

Spurs looked comfortable after Van der Vaart’s second but they were made to sweat before making sure of the three points after Marc Albrighton’s attempted cross curled into the back of the net with ten minutes remaining.

The hosts went close a number of times before the death, but Spurs held on to claim the three points which leaves them in fifth place, one place and one point behind champions Chelsea in fourth.