Fri 08 April 2022, 09:00
Tottenham HotspurRafa van der Vaart had Aston Villa in his sights in 2010/11 - and the flying Dutchman inspired victory in this thriller at Villa Park on Boxing Day, 2010.
Rafa loves his darts, and he hit two doubles against Villa in his debut season, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win at the Lane in October, 2010 and then repeating the feat as we won the return by the same scoreline in a fantastic festive period - we won all three games against Villa, Newcastle and Fulham between Christmas and New Year.
We were tested all the way by Villa, not least after Jermain Defoe received a straight red card after an aerial clash with James Collins with only 26 minutes on the clock.
We were already 1-0 up by then, and both goals were of the highest class. The first, on 23 minutes, saw Luka Modric switch play to Alan Hutton and Rafa provide a clinical low finish from 10 yards. The second was a classic counter as Rafa touched into the path of Gareth Bale, who took off on one of his trademark runs. By the time the ball came back into the box, Rafa was there again to fire into the corner.
Villa put us under plenty of pressure throughout, pulled a goal back through Marc Albrighton on 82 minutes and went close in the closing stages, but we held on.
Villa 1-2 Spurs - the highlights
Match data
Villa: Friedel, Warnock, Cuellar, Collins, Lichaj, Downing, Albrighton, Delph (Pires 74), Hogg (Petrov 46), Agbonlahor, Heskey (Delfouneso 39). Substitutes (not used): Guzan, Clark, Reo-Coker, Bannan.
Spurs: Gomes, Hutton, Kaboul, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Jenas 88), Modric (Corluka 90+4), Palacios, Bale, Van der Vaart (Crouch 74), Defoe. Substitutes (not used): Cudicini, Bassong, Kranjcar, Pavlyucheko.
Goals: Villa - Albrighton 82. Spurs - Van der Vaart 23, 67.
Venue: Villa Park.
Attendance: 39,411.
