Tottenham 0, Aston Villa 0: Mat Kendrick's big match verdict

Feb 8 2010 By Mat Kendrick

Before the break, Friedel denied Crouch at his near post, aided by a timely interception by Dunne, and parried a pile-driver from Tom Huddlestone before Cuellar slid in to deny the lively Luka Modric.

But his first-half highlight was instinctively sticking out a huge hand to keep out King’s prod, having earlier caught the defender’s tame close-range header, while Stewart Downing cleared Bale’s dribbling volley off the line. After the interval, the big American again thwarted Huddlestone, and confidently collected a series of delicious deliveries from born-again David Bentley, although Villa lived dangerously at times.

Dawson, who scored a cracking equaliser at Villa Park, headed wide with time to pick his spot, Crouch had an improvised back-heel deflected wide from virtually on the goalline and Defoe’s half-decent case for a penalty following a clumsy challenge by Stiliyan Petrov was waved away.

O’Neill’s mean machine defence have conceded the least goals (18) and kept the most clean sheets (11) in the top flight, while shutting out 23-goal Defoe twice is another impressive statistic.

Less convincing is the 31 goals scored – the worst record in the top seven. Save for Gomes’ double stop from James Milner’s skidding strike and Agbonlahor’s angled follow-up, Villa rarely threatened. Also in the first half, Dunne failed to connect properly with Downing’s deep ball, while the winger wasted a free-kick after the break.

Fit-again John Carew, on as an early replacement for the injured Heskey, fired a weak shot at Gomes after spinning on to Cuellar’s pass.

But Villa are far from boring. And Spurs must hope that, come the final reckoning, they don’t miss the points quite as much as their fans’ chants did on Saturday evening.