Brilliant Bale lifts Spurs to fourth as Villa’s slide continues

There were two statistics that summed up this game. For Aston Villa, they equalled a Premier League low of conceding 12 goals in two games to slip to 16th in the Premier League — with the worst goal difference to boot.

For Tottenham, the picture is much more rosy as Gareth Bale netted his first hat-trick in the top flight to propel his side into the top four.

Villa’s young side had defended stoutly in the first half but capitulated after the break, conceding four times in 27 minutes.