James Maddison among the goals again as Micky van de Ven injury raises concerns
Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur hammered Aston Villa by a margin of four goals to nil as the North London side starts breathing down Emery’s neck in the fourth position as the North London side looks to clinch the Champions League qualification spot for the 2024/25 campaign.
Football fanatics around the world skipped a beat as Tottenham visited Villa park in a game that was rated conclusive for the top four race, and the Lilywhites passed with flying colours against a 10-men Aston Villa.
The Whites from North London came out of the tunnel in the second half with full intensity as they struck twice early into the half with a James Maddison volley followed by Son Heung-min setting up Brennan Johnson just three minutes later after winning the ball on high-press. The South Korean got his goal into the stoppage time before Timo Werner scored Tottenham’s fourth as they took all three points back home.
There were a lot of hits and misses for Tottenham in the game, let’s take a look at a few of those:
The Hits
James Maddison finding the net again
James Maddison found the net in the near post from a Pepe Sarr cross, this was his first goal since October 2023 when he netted the winner in a 2-0 win against Fulham. This is also the first time that the 27-year-old has goal contributions in two successive Premier League games since October last year as well.
Today’s goal makes it 4 goals and 7 assists in all competitions in 17 appearances for the England international this season.
Tottenham needs to have James Maddison in his good form going into the business end of the season as the North London-based side makes a final run-in for the top four this season.
Top Destiny Udogie performance
There were a lot of contenders for the Man of the Match today but Destiny Udogie was a standout. Aston Villa found it difficult to deal with his physical presence and his offensive ability to invert as well as play on the outside played an important part for Tottenham Hotspur.
He completed two successful dribbles while having five ball wins.
The Miss
Micky Van de Ven Injury
The Dutch centre-back plays an influential part in Tottenham’s defence, especially with his rapid recovery pace. The 22-year-old appeared to be holding his hamstring when he was subbed off in the second half raising massive cause of concerns among Tottenham faithful.
Micky has already missed 10 games this season with a hamstring problem between the start of November and the end of December.
Though Tottenham manager has calmed the nerves owing to Van de Ven’s injury in his post-game press conference, saying: “I’m not sure, he doesn’t think it’s anything too significant. So disappointing for him because he was outstanding again up until that point. Great for Radu [Dragusin] to come in, his first significant game-time in a big game and I thought he handled it well,” via. London Evening Standard.
More Tottenham Hotspur News
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Tottenham fans will be hoping it’s nothing as Micky has played an important part in Tottenham’s resurgence under Ange Postecoglou.
