64 min Bale stood over a Spurs free kick wide right. It's a poor one, straight in to the wall. Spurs fans and a few players appeal for handball but nothing doing.
62 min Benteke was free down the right and had men to pick out in space. Instead of playing the obvious ball he cut back behind Ireland and Spurs set off towards the other end. Almost stopped when Defoe tried to cut back himself and was half tackled by Bennett, but Bale was running on to it from midfield, dinked the ball forward, drew the goalkeeper than breezed round him to sidefoot in to an open goal. Fantastic from Spurs but Villa digging their own grave, too.
Oh dear, oh dear oh dear. Sucker punch for Villa who went from almost equalising to 2-0 down in the blink of an eye. Benteke's poor cut back in the Spurs box launched an attack that ended with Bale slotting home calmly.
59 min The Spurs goal came at the end of a spell in which Villa have been fantastic and lookign more likely to score themselves. A complete turn around in the second period. The Villa were awful before the break and Spurs completely in charge. Villa have dominated since half time but then Spurs go and do what they couldn't with 45 minutes of generous possession. As someone once said, over and over again, it's a funny old game.
Walker threads a ball through the Villa defence and Defoe does what Defoe does best. Great finish and we have our opening goal.
56 min Loris called in to action to thwart a fine chance for Villa, Ireland pickign out Benteke wonderfully with a curling cross, the striker's first time effort turned away one-handed by the French goalkeeper in full flight. Linesman's flag was up anyway so wouldn't have counted but Loris didn't know that.
54 min Benteke through one-on-one with the goalkeeper but Gallas stepped up in plenty of time to execute the simplest of offside traps.
53 min Clark forced to concede a throw in that is then raised to a corner. Walker takes it from the right, an outswinger that Adebayor meets but can only help on rather than direct at goal. Tottenham's bloated corner count is useless until they can get better delivery in to their big men in the box.
52 min Clark gets a mouthful of Adebayor's raised size 11s. No malice in it and a genuien accident. Still looked like it stung a touch. Clark admirably shakes his head and gets on with it.
51 min Walker tries to pick out Defoe with a reverse ball over the top. Had too much on it until Herd's header took the pace off it and for a moment Defoe was in. But Herd recovered to make a fine tackle in the end.
49 min I'm guessing Lambert got stuck in to his players at the break judging by the way they've started the second period. More effort, pressing higher and quicker. Nothing from it yet but at least it's woken the crowd up.
47 min Albrighton involved early and wins a corner off Gallas. After a false start and a throw in the ball is finally worked to Lowton who lets fly from outside the box. Always going over but to a home support starved of reasons to be cheerful in this match up to this point that's encouraging.
46 min Villa make another change at the break, and my do they need to do something different in this second half. Westwood makes way for Albrighton, a move which in theory should improve Villa's goal threat. Though it can't really get any worse...
HT WRAP As one-sided as a TV for which the remote control has gone missing and all the manual buttons melted in to a piece of artwork. But Villa go in at the break with the sheet clean. Which is obviously the only concern in Lambert's mind. Tottenham have dominated possession, had more corners than they've known what to do with, but through a failure in guile and Villa's mass defending they haven't been able to make it count. A poor game to watch in truth.
45+3 min The half comes to a close with Villa looking for a way in to the Spurs box. They can't find one but win a corner, that's 15-1 now on that count. The home fans cheer with a heavly lashing of irony. Loris catches the high cross and that's the break.
45+2 min What's this? Villa on the attack? My word. Ireland releases Homan down the left ... but he's offside. Bah! As you were.
45 min Lambert forced to make a change. Baker limps off towards the treatment room, on comes Ireland.
44 min I feel sorry for Benteke here. On a day when most of us have stuffed our fat faces with more food than is natural, he is feeding on the most meagre of scraps. The odd long ball to contest in the air. The occasional lost cause to chase down the channel. In his eagerness to get involved he is caught offside. That's the most meaningful involvement he's had for a while.
42 min Spurs have had 10 shots to Villa's one. Six of Spurs's shots have been on target, none of Villa's have. Spurs are now taking their 15th corner (Adebayor heads wide), Villa are yet to have one. You can prove anything with statistics, I'm told, but there's only one conclusion from that set of numbers, eh?
40 min More Spurs pressure but again Villa swamp their own box to good effect. If Villa were holding on to a narrow lead with 10 minutes left they would be executing the perfect game plan. They are, and, consequently, it is, not.
38 min Lowton close to scoring ... in his own net. An uncomfortable header to meet a long ball forward from Spurs flicked off him and backwards to where Guzan was, thankfully for his team-mate, right behind it.
37 min Vertonghen claims he was held, or pushed, or grabbed, by Clark at a corner. He had a fair shout but the referee waves it away. Didn't even get the corner he was due, to add to his moody fustrations.
35 min Villa almost in front! Really. Great break from Lowton and his tempting cross along the six yard box just out of reach for its intended target and once it reached Holman on the left he couldn't control his shot from a tight angle with a lot of the goal unguarded. Villa's best move, moment and chance but a country mile.
34 min Ball breaks to Adebayor in the Villa box. A goal surely? But no. He strikes it as he is on the way down and hits hits the back of a Villa shirt and away. Let off for Villa there.
33 min Little to enjoy in this performance for Villa fans, aside from the fact they remarkably have a clean sheet. An awful square lay off to Bennett, or more specifically where Bennett was goign to be in a minute, trundles off for a throw in for Spurs and sums up their first half neatly.
32 min Spurs' 1,078th corner of the match. Bale picks out Adebayor who makes good contact but Guzan on hand to collect at the second attempt.
30 min Villa wake up. Quick throw in down the right caught out the Spurs defenders and Lowton had the chance to cross. It was poor but Bennett on the other flank recycled it and found the byline and dinked a decent looking cross across the face of goal. No oen there to make the most of it, or not near enough. Encouraging for Villa - they are allowed to attack every now and again it seems.
28 min Walker getting a spot of treatment now. But no sympathy from the referee. He had his heels cuaght but the match official was right on top of it and ruled no foul. The pain on the Spurs man's face looks quite compelling that there was some serious contact. He's moving gingerly still but on his feet and we're off again.
27 min Villa string a few passes together at last, to work the ball back to Guzan. Bah! But his long ball forward is won by Benteke and a rare attack for the home team. Comes to nothign but at least they had men in the box for a change.
25 min Brief hold up in play while Sandro ... ties his shoe laces. Very slowly.
23 min Adebayor sends a lovely cushioneed pass for Defoe to chase that splits the Villa defence. Defore bearign down on goal but the angle wasn't the best for him and Guzan again out sharply to smoother the shot at source. A goal for Spurs is in the post here.
22 min Spurs come forward through Defoe. He feeds Lennon wide right and his cross/shot is put behind for a corner. This one, from the right, is a decent delivery and Gallas is there to head towards goal, Guzan, though the equal of it.
21 min Villa continue to sit deep in numbers and concede the initiative to Spurs. They are defending well enough on their own 18 yard line but have nowhere to go when they nick possession.
19 min Dembele launches a Spurs attack with that big purposeful stride of his, releasing Bale who runs out of pitch and in the end can only dig out a weak cross straight to Guzan. Villa fans to a man, and woman, on their feet applauding for Stan Petrov. Always a nice touch.
17 min Respite for Villa as Lennon fouls Bennett deep in Villa territory. But again it's just pumped forward more in hope than expectation. Benteke a virtual spectator in this match.
16 min Yet another Spurs corner is comfortably dealt with by Villa but they can't build anything on the break and turn the ball back over to the visitors in the middle fo the pitch. Only one team in this game at the moment.
15 min A break in play as Delph gets some treatment. He's back on the pitch and runnign around with intent so no long-term damage by the looks of it.
13 min Another Spurs corner - their fourth already - swung over by Walker twards Defoe but he predictably loses out in the air. Still Spurs come. If Villa are planning a dope-on-the-rope suprise counter they should do it soon before Spurs score and/or the Villa fans pass out with boredom.
11 min Fantastic one-handed save from Guzan on the fly. It needed to be, too, with Bale shifting the ball from right to left and sending one towards the top right hand corner.
10 min More Spurs pressure. Worked left to right to left to right before Bale sends over a teasing cross that is just beyond Adebayor. Ball falls to Walker outside the box. He tries his luck. His luck is out.
08 min Crowd not in a good mood as Spurs continue to boss possession and the tempo of the match, which is being played pretty much exclusively in the Villa half at the moment.
07 min Dangerous free kick for Spurs on the D almost dead centre. Bale strides up to bend it in but the wall does its job. Walker, from the resulting corner, does not, a woeful cross that wouldn't have been there to attack if Peter Crouch had two clones stood on his shoulders.
05 min Spurs making the early running. Perhaps understandable from the Villa defence but they look nervous and on the back foot each time the visitors surge forward. A goal against them is going to put Villa in a funk here.
04 min Defoe and Adebayor try a quick one-two on the edge of the box that comes to nothing but Spurs keep the ball alive and Bale wins a corner. Near post from Walker that the referee decides came off Bale rather than Lowton. The referee is wrong but he's the one callign the shots and it's a goal kick.
03 min Naughton asking questions of the Villa defence with a rangy cross to the back post. Well delt with and a counter attack launched, Holman just short of legs when up against Spurs's retreating defenders all on his own.
01 min A minute gone and Villa knocking it around comfortably at the back and yet to let one in. That constitutes a good start.
17.27 Lambert and AVB have a good long festive handshake that morphs in to a bear hug. Seasons greetings in the technical area. Let's see how long that lasts.
17.25 So Spurs unleash their productive Little 'un Big 'un double act against the same back three that shipped eight last time out for Villa. I predict goals...
17.20 The respective managers have been met with microphone and questions, predictably mostly regarding *that* result for Villa at Chelsea:
Lambert: "We had a chat about it, got everyone's views, and it's gone ... You can't dwell on it, it's gone and we're ready to go ... Regardless of whatever happened at Chelsea this is a massive game. We're under no illusions about how hard it will be but we're ready.
Villas-Boas: "[Villa rolling over against Chelsea and having their belly tickled] can serve as an example to turn a crazy situation in to a positive situation ... we are aware of their strengths, they are still a good team."
17.15 Team news
Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Herd, Clark, Baker, Bennett, Westwood, El Ahmadi, Delph, Holman, Benteke.
Subs: Given, Ireland, Albrighton, Bowery, Bannan, Lichaj, Carruthers.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Walker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Naughton, Lennon, Dembele, Sandro, Bale, Defoe, Adebayor.
Subs: Friedel, Parker, Dawson, Sigurdsson, Livermore, Townsend, Caulker.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
17.10 Good afternoon and welcome to the first of two live Premier League blogs for you this Boxing Day. We won't be offended if you chose Christmas dinner leftovers and a Bond film when Stoke City and Liverpool do battle later on but there is every reason to think this match up might be worth keeping an eye on.
Tottenham under Andre Villas-Boas have been an entertaining watch. Fallible and erratic, perhaps, but committed to attack and playing some nice stuff.
Villa, for their part, are proving an enigma wrapped up in a conundrum. After taking an embarrassing spanking off Manchester City, Paul Lambert's kindergarten of a side dug in an went on a fine run that culminated in going to Anfield and giving the locals there a taste of what used to be their medicine.
And then? Well, you know the story, an absolute gubbing against Chelsea and Lambert is no longer a football visionary but a numpty who wouldn't know a 20-goal-a-season striker if he was sat brooding on his bench.
So Villa are capable of the sublime and the ridiculous, Tottenham, perhaps with less extremes, likewise. Villa with something to prove to their fans. Tottenham needing the points to keep pace win the race for the top four. 0-0 bore draw it is then, eh?
Match Notes
With three games against sides in the bottom seven, manager Andre Villas-Boas has targeted Christmas as an opportunity to establish Spurs in the top four. If Stoke proved awkward on Saturday, Villa will have something to prove following their Stamford Bridge thrashing. But, as they showed in winning 3-1 against Liverpool at Anfield, Paul Lambert's side cannot be taken for granted. This game may be the sternest test of a run including Sunderland away and Reading at home, with Villa's win at Anfield a reminder that Paul Lambert's improving side have talent as well as resilience.
Betting: Home 11-5, Away 6-5, Draw 12-5.
Stat of the game: Tottenham have lost only two of their last 18 league games played in December.
Paul Kelso's prediction: Aston Villa 1 Tottenham 1.
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