Aston Villa have recorded a statement victory in the race for European football, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Villa Park this afternoon.
An early strike from Jacob Ramsey and a wonderful free kick from Douglas Luiz earned the win for the hosts, with Harry Kane's late penalty proving nothing more than a consolation.
Starting the day three points behind Spurs, Villa have now moved level on points with today's opponents and have momentarily moved ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion into the Europa Conference League spot.
Another victory at home - their sixth in a row - has left the Villa faithful dreaming of a European adventure for the first time since 2010.
For Spurs, their dreadful form on the road continues, as they have picked up just two points in their last seven, with no wins away from North London since mid-January.
With big pressure riding on the game in the race for Europe, Spurs made yet another woeful start, conceding inside the opening 10 minutes for the third away game in a row.
Inside eight minutes, Leon Bailey collected the ball on the right-hand side of the penalty area, and his square ball found the on-running Ramsey to beat Fraser Forster, who had no chance in the Spurs goal.
Like with many of Villa's home victories on their current winning streak, they have excelled at keeping their opponents quiet while making the most of their own opportunities.
Spurs' only real opening of the half eventually turned out to be offside, when Son Heung-min was played through and had the entire final third to himself, took his time and rounded Emi Martinez, but somehow hit the post with the goal gaping, only for the linesman flag to go up very belatedly.
Villa showed further promise in the opening period, when good work from Ollie Watkins created an opportunity for Bailey, whose low shot was well saved by Forster who got down well.
Full-back Alex Moreno had freedom to attack, and it was his wicked delivery that almost saw Villa go two up before the interval, but Watkins was just inches away from making a clean contact with his header which would have resulted in a certain goal.
Excluding the Son chance which was eventually ruled offside so did not count towards the statistics, Spurs failed to register a single shot in the first half.
That soon changed though when Kane was gifted a golden opportunity after Luiz was robbed of possession in the middle of his own half, but with only Martinez to beat, Kane fired straight at the Argentine in goal.
The Villa supporters, and Luiz, breathed a huge sigh of relief, witnessing what is deemed a collector's item for a player of Kane's ability, as he failed to net what would have been Premier League goal number 27 of the season.
Son's difficult afternoon continued, but the linesman's flag spared his blushes once more as the South Korean again missed the target with the goal at mercy after being played through on goal.
With little over 15 minutes remaining, Unai Emery's side looked to have sealed victory as they took a 2-0 lead, when Luiz's free kick got up and over the wall and beat Forster, despite the keeper getting a strong hand to it.
However, there was a late turning point, as Villa were seemingly managing the game comfortably, a rash decision from Martinez to charge out of his goal resulted in him bringing Kane down in the area, and after a VAR check, Peter Bankes awarded a penalty.
Despite his earlier miss, Kane stepped up from the spot, and fired Ryan Mason's men back in the game with just seconds left of the 90 to play.
Spurs ramped up the pressure late on and their supporters thought for a brief few seconds that they had found a dramatic late equaliser, but it was yet another offside against Son which denied the visitors, after he had finally found the back of the net when played through on goal.
The late scare did not deter Villa and they held on for what ultimately turned out to be a very nervy, narrow victory.
With the battle for the final two European places set to go down to the wire, Villa travel to Anfield to face an in-form Liverpool side next weekend, while Spurs welcome fellow London-outfit Brentford to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Andrew Delaney
