Matt Maher analysis: Aston Villa take big hit, but hope damage won’t be terminal
This was the type of day which can seriously damage a season.
Presented with the chance to further strengthen their grip on a top-four position, Villa served up one of their worst performances under Unai Emery, with Tottenham wresting the advantage in the race for Champions League football from their grasp.
It is the London club who now control their destiny, after a 4-0 win which also saw them turn a minus-six goal differential into a plus-two advantage in the space of 90 minutes.
Neither did Villa’s problems end with the result. Instead, the red card shown to John McGinn has the potential to leave more long-term repercussions over a run-in which now looks that bit much longer for Emery’s men.
The Scot, so impressive since the loss of Boubacar Kamara to a season-ending injury, is now poised to miss the next three matches having been dismissed by referee Chris Kavanagh for taking out Destiny Udogie in the 65th minute.
McGinn had branded the match one of the biggest in Villa’s recent history and played like he believed it. With his team trailing to James Maddison and Brennan Johnson’s quick-fire double early in the second half, he seemed determined to bring them back into the match single-handedly and had twice come close to forcing mistakes in the visiting backline. But when Udogie advanced down the left, McGinn was too eager to make an impact, scything down the defender with the ball long gone. It was a poor challenge, perhaps not the type for which you often see a red card, yet undeniably excessive. The fact it happened right in front of the Spurs bench did not help the Villa man’s cause.
An admittedly rare loss of composure, in a season where Villa have more often than not displayed an impressive mentality, it may come to prove the defining moment of the league campaign.
