The Knowledge | Villa Park - seven semi-finals, six-shooter Sonny and a quartet of hat-tricks

We marked the history-making achievements of our 1901 team on the anniversary of winning the FA Cup earlier this week - 27 April - as we became the first and only non-league team to lift the famous trophy by beating Sheffield United in a replay.

The semi-final - our first - was at Villa Park on 8 April, 1901 - and proved another milestone match for top-scorer Sandy Brown, who netted all four goals in a 4-0 win against West Brom.

We've played seven FA Cup semi-finals at Villa Park, won four - and gone on to win the trophy on every occasion. That includes our double season, when arguably the second-biggest game of another history-making campaign - assuming the final win against Leicester to secure the double was the biggest - saw us overcome the challenge of huge rivals Burnley, a stunning 3-0 win seen as one of the best performances of the glory, glory years under Bill Nicholson - Bobby Smith (2) and Cliff Jones on target.

Our FA Cup semi-finals at Villa Park

1901 - Spurs 4-0 West Brom (Brown 4)
1948 - Spurs 1-2 Blackpool (Duquemin)
1953 - Spurs 1-2 Blackpool (Duquemin)
1956 - Spurs 0-1 Manchester City
1961 - Spurs 3-0 Burnley (Smith 2, Jones)
1982 - Spurs 2-0 Leicester City (Crooks, OG)
1987 - Spurs 4-1 Watford (Hodge 2, C Allen, P Allen)

Son shone at Villa Park

Heung-Min Son enjoyed his time in a Spurs shirt at Villa Park. The South Korea superstar registered 10 goal involvements in nine Premier League appearances against Villa (six goals, four assists) - with all six goals coming at Villa Park! Sonny is one of only three players to score a league hat-trick at Villa Park and one of only four to bag a treble in all competitions - more on that below.

Sonny played through the pain barrier to claim the first of his six goals at Villa Park. That was in February, 2020, when he played on with what turned out to be a fractured arm - and scored a dramatic late winner. Sonny opened the scoring with the rebound from a penalty, Villa levelled, Toby Alderweireld fired us in front, Villa made it 2-2 but Sonny saved his best until last, a clinical one-on-one in added time to wrap up the points.

Next up, a memorable hat-trick in a 4-0 win as the team clicked under Antonio Conte in the second half of the 2021/22 season - nine wins, two draws and just two defeats in our last 13 matches saw us haul in Arsenal to take the final Champions League spot - and Sonny grab the Golden Boot. We scored 34 goals in those 13 games, including five on three occasions ans four at Villa Park. Sonny led the way, opening the scoring early and then finishing twice on counter-attacks. Deki Kulusevski added the fourth.

Sonny's last goal at Villa Park was in March, 2024 - another memorable 4-0 win. This time, the damage was all done in the second half as Sonny was joined on the scoresheet by James Maddison, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner. We went on to finish fifth, just missing out on Champions League qualification - but a year later, lifted the Europa League in Bilbao.

A quartet of hat-tricks

Only four players have scored hat-tricks for us at Villa Park - an exclusive club, not least as we have 125 years worth of history playing at the famous venue.

First up, Martin Chivers in the second round of the League Cup on 4 September, 1969. 'Big Chiv' grabbed a hat-trick in a 4-1 win as we went all the way to semi-finals. Cliff Jones was also on target in a productive final month for the legendary winger - after 10 years at Spurs, he joined Fulham in October that year. Martin, who sadly passed away recently, would have further joy against Villa in the League Cup - memorably scoring both goals as we won the trophy for the first time against Villa at Wembley in 1971.

After a gap of 17 years, Clive Allen was next up take a matchball back down the M6. Clive grabbed all three goals as we kicked-off a memorable 1986/87 campaign - both for Clive and the team - in style at Villa Park. It was first three of 49 goals for Clive, who claimed the Golden Boot for spearheading us to third place in the First Division, the FA Cup Final and semi-finals of the League Cup. His record goals total for a season stands to this day.

Fast forward another 26 years to Boxing Day, 2012 and Gareth Bale, enjoying the season of his life in Lilywhite in 2012/13, landed a quick one-two-three to put us out of sight at Villa Park. We'd dominated from the off but had to wait until the second half for Jermain Defoe to open the scoring. Bale then took over with clinical finishes on 61, 73 and 84 minutes to see us home. The legendary Welshman scored 26 goals in 44 appearances in all competitions before his world-record move to Real Madrid.

Our most recent hat-trick at Villa Park was claimed by Heung-Min Son in another 4-0 win in the Premier League on 9 April, 2022. As detailed above, Sonny opened the scoring before running riot in the second half, our in-form team clinical on the counter and on the way to fourth place with nine wins and plenty of goals in the final 13 games. Sonny was also flying and come May, landed the Golden Boot.