Aston Villa 2-0 Tottenham - the fans' verdictpublished at 11:55 17 May
11:55 17 May
Image source, Getty Images
We asked for your thoughts after Friday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Tottenham.
Here are some of your comments:
Villa fans
Rob: A thoroughly professional display. The Villa of old would have panicked at being 0-0 at half-time and we would've lost it 1-0 at the death. But that's not this Unai Emery team. They controlled the second half and took our chances without breaking a sweat. Bring on Man Utd.
Simon: Obviously so pleased for the three points, but seeing Martinez go off in tears has me worried that we've seen the last of him. Whatever happens, he will always be a Villa legend. On to Old Trafford for, hopefully, a rare victory there.
Ian: A nervy first half, but Spurs' only threat was on the break. It was a well deserved win in the second half and very comfortable. Spurs never really threatened our goal. Just one more win now and I think we will get that Champions League spot. In Unai we trust. Keep the faith, UTV.
Paul: A stroll in the end. Emery deserves credit for taking a failing team and turning them into a team that has qualified for Europe three years in a row, but there still needs to be consistency so we don't have meltdowns like Olympiakos or Wembley this season. We've finished the season like a train but the dropped points back in the winter may well cost us. On our day, we go toe-to-toe with the best and hurt them, so a Spurs team not wanting to get injured before a final was pretty easy to predict.
Spurs fans
Andy: I know it was almost a nothing game for us, given our final on Wednesday, but it still feels like something is fundamentally wrong in the changing room. Getting to the Champions League could be the worst thing to happen to us. With the extra games and these performances, we will be relegated next season.
Roger: Yet another shambolic, totally disorganised, lacklustre performance. Even allowing for missing and out-of-form players, the performances this season have clearly demonstrated that the current management and coaching is nowhere near what is required in the Premier League. Even a win next week or buying new players won't change that. The club needs to act quickly and make wholesale changes before pre-season or we will get relegated next year.
Meesh: It's been the same all season - we look lost. I was gritting my teeth in vain thinking we may actually win this. And yet more injuries!
Norman: Oh dear. The first half really gave me hope and I can see positives for next season with our great young players (if we can keep them). The second half was dreadful and I cannot wait for the end of the season and an end to this manager. A dreadful season, irrespective of what happens in the Europa League final.
Did you know?
Since the start of March, Aston Villa have won 24 points in the Premier League from their nine games (W8 L1), more than any other side in that period (Newcastle next on 22 points).
Tottenham have now lost 25 games in all competitions this season, their joint-highest number of defeats in a single campaign in their history along with 1991-92 (25).
Ollie Watkins has been directly involved in 109 Premier League goals for Aston Villa (75 goals, 34 assists), the outright most of any player for the club (one more than Gabriel Agbonlahor).
'The game just got away from us'published at 10:24 17 May
10:24 17 May
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Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to Sky Sports following the defeat at Villa Park: "Pape [Matar Sarr] felt something in his back so we took him off as a precaution. It's nothing too significant. Mikey [Moore] was OK, he was just fatigued.
"Son Heung-min is ready and available [for the Europa League final]. They all are ready to start. It was important for him to play in this game, he feels like he is getting back to some rhythm.
"I thought that up until Aston Villa scored, the boys worked hard. They were really disciplined and organised. We didn't really let them create too many openings.
"We had our moments going forward as well but, once they scored, we lost a little bit of belief. A lot of those guys haven't played a lot, we looked like we were fatiguing and then the game just got away from us."
Sutton's predictions: Aston Villa v Tottenhampublished at 08:54 16 May
08:54 16 May
Let's face it, everyone on the planet thinks Aston Villa will win this - the same way everyone will expect Chelsea to beat Manchester United in Friday's other game.
The way both Tottenham and United are approaching next week's Europa League final, they are just gripped with fear. It has become like a World Cup final for both clubs.
Both managers will make lots of changes for their matches on Friday, because they are so afraid of injuries to key players but I just don't think that is the way to approach Wednesday's game in Bilbao.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou does not want anyone to get injured but the flip side to leaving key people out is that you want to go into a big game with a bit of momentum, and Tottenham do not have any.
I put myself in a position of a Spurs player, and if I am Micky van de Ven or Cristian Romero, I would want to play against Villa and I would want to take that risk.
But what Postecoglou is scared of, naturally, is if something happens to one of them, because then he would be asked 'why on earth did you do that?'
So, we know what he will do and, because of that, you can't make a case for Tottenham beating Villa, or getting anything at all from this game.
On the face of it, things have turned out pretty well for Villa haven't they? Last summer they would have looked at their last two games of the season - Spurs at home on Friday and United away next weekend - and thought that is very tough.
Now, though, they must be rubbing their hands. They are fighting for a top-five finish and they finish up with two games against teams whose focus this week is completely on an all together different prize.
Postecoglou on Son, losing Kulusevski and players staking their claimpublished at 13:56 15 May
13:56 15 May
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media before Friday's Premier League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 19:40 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Son Heung-min will "definitely" play against Villa but Postecoglou does not know whether he will start or be on the bench.
He said losing Dejan Kulusevski is "disappointing news" before the Europa League final and confirmed he will be sidelined "at least a few months."
Midfielder Lucas Bergvall is out of his boot and has taken his "first tentative steps on the grass" but it "will likely be a while" before he is available again.
On having no luck with injuries: "It's just reflective and consistent with everything else that has happened this season. We just haven't had a smooth run of things. Every time we look like we are getting to a place where we are looking in decent shape squad-wise, invariably we have been hit."
He said the injuries are in "one area of the park" as Kulusevski followed a season-ending injury for playmaker James Maddison.
Despite having one eye on the Europa League final, he said he will "put out a team that hopefully gets the job done" at Villa Park and "go out there to try to win the game."
On using the game for players to prove themselves for the final: "It's an opportunity for them to put their name forward for the big game the following week because, as we have already seen in the past couple of weeks, as much as you would like to think there is an ideal starting line-up things happen and players have to be ready for that."
Tottenham striker Dominic Solanke has applied more pressures (1,198) and made more off-the-ball runs into the opposition box (290) than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Kulusevski has knee surgerypublished at 18:02 14 May
18:02 14 May
Tyrese King BBC Sport journalist
Image source, Getty Images
Tottenham have confirmed Dejan Kulusevski has undergone surgery on a knee injury.
The winger injured his right patella in defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend.
The club did not offer a timeline on his recovery but he looks certain to miss their Europa League final against Manchester United on 21 May.
"Following further specialist consultation, the midfielder has undergone surgery today (Wednesday) and will commence his rehabilitation with our medical staff immediately," the club said.
This adds to the bad news for Spurs with James Maddison already being out for a reported three months after a serious knee injury in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Bodo/Glimt.
Lucas Bergvall has been ruled out for an extended period by manager Ange Postecoglou after he suffered ankle ligament damage in training ahead of the Europa League semi-final first leg.
'The gaffer made sure we stayed together' - Van de Venpublished at 15:57 14 May
15:57 14 May
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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven spoke to the media at an event to preview the Europa League final: "We played unbelievable games to reach the final but it's one game away from the trophy and we want to win the trophy at the end. No one is going to talk about how you reach the final and of course we want to win it. It's going to be difficult but we are going to do everything for it. We can do it.
"The build up will be the same but the feeling is different - it's a final.
"I wouldn't say it's an advantage (playing Manchester United). Those were games in the past. This is a final and in a final anything can happen. We won three times against them, hopefully we can do the same thing for the final.
"The gaffer made sure we stayed together at all times. It's been a tough season, everybody was doubting us, now we've proved them wrong - we reached the final. And the gaffer is believing in us every time over and over again and you can see that. Off the pitch and on the pitch, we are a tight group and we want to make sure that we can bring this trophy home."
'It should never happen' - has offside rule been a 'time bomb'?published at 13:14 14 May
13:14 14 May
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For the players and fans, Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi getting this injury in a situation where the offside flag should have been raised is so frustrating.
The frustration is when it is clear and obvious. Officials have been overseeing games for many years and they would always flag whether they were right or wrong.
Now technology has come into it, they are very reliant on VAR to make the right decision, the factual decision, about an offside. But, I think when an offside is so clear and obvious, it should be the duty of the assistant referee to put their flag up and stop play from the off.
When it is marginal, I understand we are a bit more hesitant when there are really fine margins, and we have seen those fine margins when goals have been given and it is a toenail to keep them on-side. I would understand it from that point of view, but it was on the halfway-line where the offside happened on Sunday, only for play to be allowed to continue.
It has been a matter of time. It has been a time bomb waiting to go off for somebody to get seriously injured. Awoniyi is the one that has got that injury - that horrific injury - because of it. Some will say it is only the first time it has happened in the duration of this rule, but it should never happen. That is how players will be looking at it, how fans and managers will be looking at it and saying 'it should never happen'. We should not wait for something to happen to reassess rules like this.
I don't like the ruling of it - it is on the halfway-line, it is clear and obviously offside, everybody in the stadium could probably see it. It should be for the assistant referee to make the decision. There are small margins in the box, I understand why they are a bit hesitant, but in open play, if somebody is sprinting, you could cause hamstring, quad, and all types of muscle injuries.
I am totally against this rule of waiting to put up the flag and I think most players and managers are as well. It's disappointing. I think it's a rule that nobody likes, and I'm sure in the summer off the back of this injury, one that will probably be reassessed.
Fara Williams was speaking to BBC Sport's Nicola Pearson
'It'd be a dream come true' - Johnsonpublished at 10:32 14 May
10:32 14 May
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Tottenham Hotspur winger Brennan Johnson spoke to the media to look towards the Europa League final: "It's been a rollercoaster I think. It's been some good highs and obviously some disappointments. We have probably lacked a bit of consistency. But where we are now going into the final, if you offered that at the start of the season, we'd be really excited by that.
"For me its about trying to win games and try to be successful because that's where I know this team can be and I feel like last season, we had that consistency more and that's why we were able to finish a lot higher in the league.
"I'm confident. We have to do everything right we can now to prepare for the game and it's down to us. It's about how we perform on the pitch.
"It'd be a dream come true. I think I have had some good moments in my career at the moment but a European trophy would be unbelievable and I'm sure a lot of the lads would say the same thing. It's a special game to be involved in but now it's about mentally and physically preparing for what's to come."
Plane, ferry or car? The Europa League final adventurepublished at 10:31 14 May
10:31 14 May
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We asked you to tell us how you are travelling to Bilbao for the Europa Leauge final against Manchester United.
Here are some of your comments:
Kerry: Drive Midlands to London 20.05.25 (my birthday). Eurostar to Paris, metro to South Paris, train to Bordeaux, Flixbus Bordeaux to Bilbao arriving early hours 21st May. Then Bilbao to Santander (accommodation), Santander to Bilbao for the game.
John: Me and my sons are making it a road trip! Eurotunnel Monday after work (flights are impossible and a fortune), stay overnight in France and enjoy a drive down the Atlantic coast Tuesday and got an AirBnB booked for two nights in Bilbao.
John: Got flights a month ago for £80 return to Madrid from Birmingham. A car hire for £24 and two nights accommodation in Burgos (striking distance to Bilbao!) An underground car-park in the city for €20… and ticket sorted this morning.
Paul: Booked a flight from London via a seven hour stop over in Barcelona on the Tuesday night. Staying two nights in Bilbao and returning direct to London on Monday. Uefa need to change this process and consider moving finals where it is two teams from the same nation, but then why would they when the game is about money not fans?
Lewis: Starts with a late night flight from Gatwick to Milan on Tuesday. Leaving Milan for Madrid 6am the following morning then a coach to Bilbao to get there for 3ish. Then no sleep, back on the coach at 2am to Madrid and head back to Milan and onto Gatwick - should be home Thursday evening with trophy in tow!
Keef: Bus from Bristol - 30+ hours!
Darren: Three hour car Norwich-Portsmouth (Sun.18th) 30hr Ferry Portsmouth-Bilbao. Arrive Bilbao Tuesday 20th and find somewhere to get amongst it. Soak it up. Sleep it rough in car somewhere, then 30 hour Bilbao-Portsmouth (Sat. 24th). Arrive Portsmouth Sunday 25th - three hour drive back to Norwich.
Transfer Q&A: What will Spurs' summer transfer strategy be?published at 15:10 13 May
15:10 13 May
Sami Mokbel Senior football correspondent
Image source, PA Media
BBC Sport's senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel has been answering your questions on the transfer window.
Mike: As a Spurs fan, I keep looking at the transfer gossip but what is the point? Ange is probably going to be gone, so why would we be looking at any players before the new gaffer is chosen? However, if they were going to the market, what do you believe they need?
Sami: There is certainly an element of Tottenham being in a state of flux until Ange Postecoglou's future is officially decided, as targets will want to know who the manager is before committing to Spurs.
Also, Tottenham will not know the full size of their summer budget until they know if they are playing Champions League football next season. So there are a few ifs, buts and maybes to conclude before Tottenham can finalise their approach - but they will be in the market for a wide attacker.
They like Eberechi Eze, who has a £60m plus £8m release trigger, but the Crystal Palace man is likely to have other options.
They also have a long-term interest in Matheus Cunha, but Manchester United appear to be ahead in that race.
All eyes will be on the futures of Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie too, who are courting interest from rival clubs. If Romero or Udogie leave, Tottenham will enter the market for a centre-back or left-back, respectively.
Tottenham tried and failed to sign Marc Guehi in January, but the Palace defender remains on their radar.
