Tottenham rout jaded Aston Villa to close in on Champions League places

Ten-man hosts picked apart and are now only two points ahead of Spurs, who have played a game less

OPENER: Tottenham's James Maddison nets their opener at Villa Park. 

Premier League: Aston Villa 0 Tottenham 4

IT may not, as Ange Postecoglou is at pains to point out, be a Willy Wonka golden ticket, but Tottenham took a significant step towards a top four Premier League finish with a ruthless dismantling of one of their main rivals for Champions League qualification.

Second-half goals from James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Son Heung-min and Timo Werner sealed a notable win to pull fifth-place Spurs within two points of Aston Villa, with a game in hand.

The hosts looked jaded after their midweek Europa League exploits in Amsterdam against Ajax, and were well beaten as they were forced to see out the final third of the game at a numerical disadvantage after skipper John McGinn earned a straight red card for one of the worst challenges you will see this season.

After a frenetic first-half failed to produce a goal, the visitors took control with two in the space of three minutes at the outset of the second period shortly after Tottenham's Dutch defender Micky van Ven had limped off with what appeared to be a hamstring issue.

The 50th-minute opener arrived at the culmination of a swift counter-thrust that released Pape Sarr to lope purposefully down the Spurs right and send over a sumptuous cross which was met at the near post by Maddison who poked home his first Premier League goal since October left-footed from close range.

Seemingly within the blink of an eye the lead doubled thanks to some woeful Villa play as Ezri Konsa surrendered possession deep inside his own half. Son gratefully accepted the gift, putting Johnson through on goal for the young forward to confidently beat Emi Martinez with a confident finish into the roof of the net.

If Villa thought things couldn't get any worse, they were mistaken. Any hope of clawing their way back into the game headed down the players' tunnel with McGinn just after the hour after the epitome of a horror challenge on Destiny Udogie.

The Spurs full-back was fortunate to escape serious knee ligament damage after being cynically taken out near halfway by the Scotland international, who knew his fate as soon as referee Chris Kavanagh went for his pocket to administer justice.

As stoppage-time approached, Son helped to put a more realistic slant on the scoreline when the Spurs skipper finished off another slick move down the right by hammering a Dejan Kulusevski cross past Martinez from just inside the area.

There remained time for Timo Werner to get in on the act as the Spurs substitute sent a deft angled drive into the corner of Martinez's net from Son's cut-back to seal the rout.

***** Aston Villa (4-4-2): Martinez 5; Konsa 4 (Diego Carlos 86, 5), Lenglet 4 (Zanoilo 58, 4), Torres 4, Digne 4 (Moreno 58, 5); Cash 4, McGinn 2, Douglas Luiz 5, Tielemans 4; Bailey 5 (Iroegbuman 65, 5), Watkins 4.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Vicario 7; Porro 7, Romero 7, van de Ven 6 (Dragusin 49, 6), Udogie 7; Bissouma 7, Sarr 7 (Bentancur 70, 6); Kulusevski 7, Maddison 8 (Werner 88, 7), Johnson 8 (Hojbjerg 88, 6); Son Heung-min 9.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh