Tottenham earned an impressive 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
It was a total Aston Villa dominance from Tottenham yesterday as the Lilywhites showed that their strong away form is not just passing the eye test. And now that form has been underlined by numbers that are difficult to ignore.
Going into the game, Tottenham were under a lot of pressure to get that win. West Ham had dropped their points against Brentford, and this game presented a clear opportunity for Tottenham to drag themselves out of that relegation zone. It was showing in their push as the North Londoners came all guns blazing in yesterday’s clash at Villa Park.
Opta stat shows how good Tottenham were vs Villa
And let’s be honest, for most of that game it looked like only one team was there to play football. It was not just a simple win for Tottenham; it was them going to Aston Villa’s den and erasing the Villans’ presence from the game for the majority of it. And that showed in one statistic that was highlighted by Opta in the aftermath of the game, which captured the scale of control that Tottenham had over Unai Emery & Co.
Aston Villa managed to accumulate only one touch in the Lilywhites’ box in the opening 60 minutes of the game. It is the fewest that have been recorded by any side in the first hour of a Premier League game in the ongoing 2025/26 campaign.
1 – Aston Villa had one touch in the opposition box in the first 60 minutes; the fewest by a team in the opening hour of a @premierleague match this season. Stalled. pic.twitter.com/Hhhbzli4Q0
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 3, 2026
Aston Villa dominance shows Tottenham have become a force to be reckoned with
It speaks directly to what this Tottenham team have become away from home. They are no longer a team that is reacting to the pressure of going on the road; this side has started to apply that pressure and squeeze opponents higher up the pitch. And that is what they exactly did yesterday as they ended up starving Aston Villa of space and belief (and that could be seen on the faces of Villa supporters along the game who were in disbelief of what they were seeing).
Spurs were in charge of the build-up phases where they boasted confidence in that 3-2 framework, and that calmness on the ball forced Villa backwards. Tottenham were pinning them for big intervals of the game, and their high press ended up limiting transitions before they even began. By the time Villa tried to push forward, there was nowhere to go.
It was kind of a performance that showed how far Tottenham have come under Roberto De Zerbi in no time. But now it is about taking that momentum and using this Villa win to inspire more and get out of the relegation scrap altogether.