Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Aston Villa

Aston Villa made the perfect start to 2023 with a victory against Tottenham Hotspur on New Year’s Day.

Ollie Watkins teed Emiliano Buendía up to open the scoring in north London with a close-range finish after 50 minutes.

John McGinn’s superb pass picked out Douglas Luiz after 73 minutes, and the Brazilian coolly flicked the ball home to double the away side’s lead.

A strong defensive effort ensured Robin Olsen was rarely troubled in the visitors’ goal as Villa secured a first clean sheet under Unai Emery.

The head coach kept faith with the starting XI that began the Boxing Day clash against Liverpool, and the team repaid with him with a strong start in north London.

The first chance of the game fell Villa’s way after nine minutes when Watkins latched onto Lucas Digne’s pass and cut inside before firing wide of the near post.

Olsen was a relative bystander through the first 30 minutes as Tottenham struggled to play through Villa’s backline, with Boubacar Kamara quickly snuffing out the danger on the one occasion Matt Doherty looked to pull the trigger.

A cagey game sprang into life five minutes before half-time when Harry Kane had his first major involvement of the match.

The England captain leapt highest to meet Ivan Perisic’s cross at the back post but saw his header cleared off the line by the diving Ashley Young.

Villa had failed to test Hugo Lloris in the first half but that immediately changed at the start of the second as they swept forward and snatched the lead.

The goalkeeper failed to hold Luiz’s long-range shot, and the alert Watkins reacted quickest to tee up Buendía, who had an easy first-time finish.

A response from the hosts took several minutes to materialise, but when it did they came close to levelling when Perisic prodded over the bar having collected Yves Bissouma’s cross.

Matty Cash was summoned from the bench to replace Leon Bailey after 66 minutes, and the Polish international took up a more advanced position on the right as Emery sought to cope with the pace in the Spurs’ attack.

However, the visitors continued to look the more dangerous of the two sides and they stunned the stadium with a second goal after 73 minutes.

Luiz played the ball into McGinn and burst into the box, collecting a superbly weighted return pass from the Villa captain and nonchalantly flicking the ball past Lloris.

A joyous away end were able to enjoy the final stages of the match as Villa coasted through to the final whsitle.