Justice for Bentancur: A Tottenham win may never have felt more satisfying

A win may never have felt more satisfying for Tottenham, who are now in the driving seat for the top four as their fans jeered Matty Cash from first to final whistle while his dirtiest Villa pal saw red.

It was set up to be an intriguing game, top four battle aside, with two often comically high lines and very fast forwards promising dashes in behind from a big old clump of players gathered within the depth of the centre circle, with composure in tight spaces from your James Maddisons and your John McGinns sure to be key to set those runners free, and the midfield aggressors just as important in stopping them. Villa (129) and Spurs (88) have caught opposition players offside more than any other Premier League team this season. Both passes and runs would need to be well-timed.

There was also the sadistically appetising prospect of someone, almost certainly Cristian Romero if he got anywhere near, leaving something on Matty Cash, with the Spurs players presumably as keen as the fans – who jeered the right-back throughout – to get their own back after his nasty challenge on Rodrigo Bentancur in the return fixture, which turned that game on its head. Justice arrived through another source in the end, but was arguably even sweeter.

There was certainly some needle, and plenty of desire to beat the offside trap, but in the first half passes were either slighly overhit or not forthcoming, with the midfield too congested, as pressure out of possession won out over poise on the ball. It was absorbing for as long as we managed to keep our desire for action at bay, with appreciation for the way in which these managers have transformed their teams wearing thin by half-time, by which point we were still waiting for a first shot on target, with Lucas Digne shouldering wide from a set piece as close as we came to a goal.

One moment of quality wasn’t too much to ask, and when it arrived – shortly after the break – both the source and level of the quality came as a surprise. Villa got the offside trap slightly wrong, but if they were to select a player to be set free on the right they may well have chosen Pape Matar Sarr, and if they were to select a moment for him to deliver a cross, it would probably be when off balance with his body almost facing the corner flag.

Sarr wouldn’t have found Maddison in the six-yard box had he not delivered it when he did, nor without the extraordinary pace and whip he managed to get on the ball. It was a sublime cross we would be drooling over had it been Trent Alexander-Arnold, let alone a player deemed little more than a midfield workhorse by dint of his rangey running style and propensity for a midfield battle.\

Sarr was replaced after 70 minutes, as Postecoglou granted Spurs fans added schadenfreude after John McGinn’s red card by bringing on the wronged Bentancur to see out the game.

McGinn looked dumbfounded (or posssibly just a bit dumb) having been given his marching orders for the sort of tackle he makes at least two or three times a game, though typically without the required oomph to draw too much attention. He essentially kicked Destiny Udogie off his feet, with no attempt whatsoever to play the ball.

Brennan Johnson had already put Spurs two up by that point and both Son Heung-min and Timo Werner scored late on as Villa looked out on their feet, down to ten men and suffering at the hands of a team who hit their attacking stride in some style against their closest rivals in the Premier League in the second half.

All things considered, this may well be Tottenham’s most satisfying win of the season. They’ve put themselves in the driving seat for the top four, not only by beating the team above them but by depleting Villa’s energy reserves and confidence through the manner of the beating, and – just as satisfyingly – earning sweet, sweet justice for what they quite reasonably considered to be quite the miscarriage when these two sides met at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November.