Roberto De Zerbi had told his Tottenham players to silence the voices competing for their attention but his internal monologue would have been extremely good value at Villa Park. When Richarlison headed in on 25 minutes to double Spurs’ lead, De Zerbi, in pristine white high tops, motored on to the pitch as if at the wheel on Mario Kart, with Marcello Quinto, one of the coaches who the Italian brought with him upon his appointment last month, not far behind him.
After recording their first victory this year at Wolves last weekend, Spurs returned to the West Midlands to chalk up successive Premier League wins for the first time since August. Significantly, this was a win that hoists Spurs out of the relegation zone, trading places with West Ham, who were defeated at Brentford on Saturday. It may be May but Spurs finally appear up and running.
De Zerbi, this just his fourth game in the job, evidently has his players dancing to his tune. The travelling Spurs support understandably went ballistic when the final whistle arrived, the Villa substitute Emiliano Buendía’s late consolation doing nothing to dampen the buoyancy in the away end. Both during the game and judging by the noise at the end it felt like Spurs, and not Villa, are the team riding high in the division and close to qualifying for the Champions League.
