Analysis: Aston Villa show they are winning where it matters after impressive FA Cup win

For the second time, Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers were the goalscorers, following up their goal of the season contenders in October’s Premier League meeting with two more excellent finishes to secure FA Cup progress and set up a second half of the season where, once again, it appears Unai Emery’s men will be fighting for glory on three fronts.

Not so long ago, beating Tottenham on their own patch would have been considered a statement result.

These days, it increasingly feels routine. This was Villa’s fifth win in their last seven visits and it is difficult to recall another where they controlled such large portions of the match.

Another big club who missed the boat when the big money began pouring into the Premier League during the 1990s, Tottenham have always made for a good comparison when assessing the general state of Villa.

A little under 20 years ago the pair were rivals battling to bridge the gap to what was then English football’s “Big Four”. 

Tottenham were the club who got everything right and made it. Villa got everything wrong and were relegated. While Spurs challenged for the Champions League, they were battling to get out of the Championship.

In what feels like the relative blink of an eye, everything has changed. Now it is Villa who have increasingly realistic aspirations of winning the biggest competitions. 

Tottenham, already running out of patience with Thomas Frank barely six months into his reign, have their big stadium and won the Europa League but it is difficult to see where the next trophy will come from. The FA Cup represented their last realistic chance this season but in a tie where their need was supposedly greater, they were second best.

Villa, after Saturday, still have three routes open to ending their three decade-long search for silverware this season.

The fourth away match in London in the space of a fortnight and the second in just 72 hours after last Wednesday’s 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace, you wondered just how energised Emery’s men would be for their first match in a competition which ranks third in the manager’s list of priorities.

Any doubts were removed the moment the teams were announced. While Villa were not quite at their strongest, the XI still contained the majority of their big hitters and the most pleasing aspect, for Emery, will have been the way players not guaranteed starts when everyone is fit stepped up to take their chance and deliver a reminder of his squad’s strength.

Buendia and Donyell Malen were both at the forefront after what had been, for both, the quietest month of their impressive individual seasons.

The former netted for the first time since his last-gasp winner against Arsenal to open the scoring midway through the first half, finishing off a flowing team move in which Malen delivered the final pass.

It was the same pair who then combined to create Villa’s second on the stroke of half-time, Malen collecting Buendia’s pass out wide and then driving into the box and sending in a cross which his team-mate deftly flicked into the path of Morgan Rogers.

Chosen to start up front ahead of Ollie Watkins, this was probably Malen’s most productive outing as a lone striker. 

Just a fortnight earlier in his most recent start at Chelsea, he had been removed on the hour mark having barely touched the ball. Here he was far more involved, finding the space between Tottenham’s midfield and defence and showing precision in his passing.

Rogers, meanwhile, is now back out in front of Watkins as Villa’s top scorer for the season after netting his eighth of the campaign.

Saturday’s performance demonstrated the England international’s power and class but also a reminder of just how much he can still improve. So comfortable were Villa in the first half they almost became cocky after the break, a mood epitomised by Rogers’ misguided attempt to trick his way out of trouble on the edge of his own box.

Marco Bizot, assured again in place of the injured Emi Martinez, saved Xavi Simons’ resulting shot but Villa were not so lucky a minute later when Randal Kolo Muani barged Lamare Bogarde off the ball and found Wilson Odobert to set up what from the visiting team’s perspective felt like a needlessly nervy final 40 minutes.

That moment was the only blot on what was a strong performance from Bogarde in his first midfield start since last month’s 2-1 Europa League win at Basel.

Villa may well need more of them in the weeks ahead should the scan results on Boubacar Kamara’s knee injury be unfavourable.

The midfielder’s early exit after being on the wrong end of a hefty Joao Palhinha challenge which should have earned the Tottenham man a yellow card was by some way the biggest concern for Emery. With Amadou Onana still a little way from returning to fitness, Villa risk becoming a little thin in the heart of midfield.

It is why the January window is so crucial and why Villa are prepared to be so ambitious, targeting moves for the likes of Conor Gallagher and Tammy Abraham, with Emery desperate to avoid the kind of tail-off seen two seasons ago when his team limped into the top-four and saw dreams of Conference League glory dashed.

For now, with 19 wins in their last 23 matches, they keep motoring on in a manner the likes of Tottenham and the beleaguered Frank can only observe with envy.