Joy for O’Leary as Villa march continues

Aston Villa 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Nolberto Solano plunged Tottenham deeper into trouble and elevated David O’Leary’s Aston Villa side back into the top six of the Premiership with a second-half winner at Villa Park.

The Peruvian international struck his fourth goal of the campaign to make it 13 points from the last five games for David O’Leary’s in-form side.

Tottenham have now lost six league games in a row – including three under new coach Martin Jol – and are sliding towards the relegation zone at an alarming rate.

It was not a classic performance by Villa but they have acquired that knack of eking out results, particularly at home where they are unbeaten in seven matches this season.

In fact, they have lost only three of their last 23 league games stretching back to last season and O’Leary has worked wonders with one of the smallest squads in the top flight.

At least Tottenham managed to tighten up defensively to a degree after shipping 10 goals in the previous three games.

And they were left to rue some less than deadly finishing with Michael Brown and the lively Jermaine Defoe spurning clear-cut chances.

But Villa also looked threatening via Carlton Cole up front while Gavin McCann again conducted operations effectively from midfield and there was a promising debut from Steven Davis.

Spurs produced the first effort on target but Defoe’s 20-yard curling effort went straight at Thomas Sorensen.

Cole had half a chance when McCann headed a free-kick from Ulises de la Cruz into his path but his first touch was not sharp enough.

Angel flicked a right-wing cross from McCann into the path of the on-loan Chelsea striker but he failed to make proper contact with his left-footed shot which trickled through to Paul Robinson.

There was a farcical moment when referee Chris Foy blocked Defoe from getting in a shot on the edge of the Villa penalty box following a free-kick move with Michael Carrick.

Sorensen went down low to his left to cling on to Brown’s precisely placed drive while at the other end Paul Robinson turned away one-handed a more powerful shot from a narrower angle by Cole.

Thimothee Atouba jinked his way past Villa skipper Olof Mellberg and Mark Delaney before forcing Sorensen to hold on to his rising shot.

In general the quality of the final ball into the danger area from both sides left a lot to be desired in the opening 45 minutes.

The most clear-cut chance of the first half fell to Brown after 38 minutes when he was put clear in the Villa penalty area by Kanoute.

Sorensen was able to cling on to his low drive but the Spurs midfielder failed to make full contact with his shot.

Spurs made a substitution at the beginning of the second period with Reto Ziegler replacing the injured Erik Edman.

Both sides would have been looking for more incisive play and it was Tottenham who were the sharper during the early exchanges.

Defoe was allowed to get in a shot on the turn after Delaney failed to close him down but Sorensen was able to parry away his effort from the right side of the area.

Kanoute found himself in a decent position inside the Villa box but needed too much time and Delaney was able to intercept.

Defoe was an increasing threat for Tottenham and he bore down on the Villa goal after turning inside Delaney but his shot drifted across the goal when he should have at least tested Sorensen.

But against the run of play Villa went ahead in the 56th minute through Solano’s fourth goal of the campaign.

Hitzlsperger’s inswinging free-kick was flicked on at the near post by McCann to Solano who had time to turn and flick the ball up before drilling it past Robinson.

The Peru international had a great chance to double his side’s lead three minutes later after a Cole cross had been turned across goal by Angel into his path but Robinson managed to block his shot from 10 yards out.

Villa now had their tails up and Robinson was forced to parry De la Cruz’s powerful low shot around the post.

But Kanoute could have snatched a point for Tottenham when he headed wide at the near post from a cross by the disappointing Pedro Mendes.