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Paulinho and Soldado celebrate Spurs' second. Nick Potts/PA Wire/Press Association Images
AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: Aston Villa v Tottenham, Premier League

Villa Park hosts the only Premier League game of the afternoon. Join us for all the action.

SEVENTH-PLACED SPURS travel to the Midlands for a meeting with Aston Villa, currently 12th in the Premier League.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail ben@thescore.ie, tweet @football_iepost a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.

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Aston Villa 0-2 Spurs

Good afternoon! Just the one Premier League fixture today and it’s at Villa Park where Spurs are the visitors. Kick-off is just minutes away so here are the teams:

Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Vlaar, Clark, El Ahmadi, Westwood, Luna, Delph, Weimann, Agbonlahor, Kozak. Subs: Steer, Baker, Herd, Bennett, Bowery, Tonev, Sylla

Spurs: Lloris, Walker, Chiriches, Dawson, Vertonghen, Paulinho, Sandro, Townsend, Holtby, Sigurdsson, Soldado. Subs: Friedel, Naughton, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Lennon, Defoe.

Christian Benteke only makes the bench after returning from a hip injury, while Vlad Chiriches, nicknamed ‘The Impaler’, gets his first league start of the season in the heart of Spurs’ defence.

Here we go. It’s a fairly miserable day at Villa Park and the home side get us underway.

Good early chance for Villa. Leandro Bacuna receives the ball back from a throw-in and whips in a cross with his left. It falls to Gabi Agbonlahor, whose first touch is decent. The strike flies well over, however.

Jan Vertonghen gets forward and is picked out with a lay-off from Roberto Soldado. The Belgian’s cross is turned behind for a corner but Villa deal with it well.

As they break, Chiriches appears to pull back Agbonlahor and is lucky to escape a yellow card.

We don’t have to wait long for the first booking of the day. Lewis Holtby gets to the ball ahead of Ashley Westwood and the defender catches his opponent late before Phil Dowd reaches to his pocket.

Sandro strikes a long range effort well but Brad Guzan is behind it all the way.

A Villa free-kick wide on the left is sent in excellently by Westwood. The ball bounces just before Lloris but the French number one manages to push it away.

Vertonghen gets caught in possession and when the ball hops up for Andreas Weimann, the attacker attempts a volley. It’s struck sweetly but sails a few yards wide of the post.

GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Spurs (Andros Townsend)

Spurs have taken the lead! Andros Townsend, the subject of countless headlines this week, cuts inside onto his left and curls a ball to the back post. Both Soldado and Holtby attempt to make contact but the ball ends up in the back of the net.

Spurs attack again and Vertonghen’s cross is headed just off target by Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Villa have started the game well, pressing the Spurs backline every chance they get, and Paul Lambert will be disappointed with doing a goal down.

They win a free-kick when Fabian Delph is fouled by Paulinho, who receives a booking, but Bacuna doesn’t worry Lloris with his set-piece.

Super interception by Michael Dawson, who cuts out a through-ball from Weimann during a Villa counter attack.

Promising from Villa. The ball switches from one side to the other whether Westwood pulls the ball back to Weimann on the edge of the box. The Austrian attempts to pick out the top corner but ends up hitting the sidenetting.

Half-time: Aston Villa 0-1 Spurs

Townsend comes close to doubling his tally before the whistle but Guzan makes a super stop after Paulinho’s run.

Credit: Nick Potts/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Check this out. One of the referee’s assistants was his struck by a flare in the first half:

Credit: BBCSporf

Second half has just started.

Stat attack:

Guzan is keeping Villa in this right now. The American gets a strong hand to Paulinho’s volley from 18 yards out.

Kyle Walker is down receiving treatment after a collision with Agbonlahor. The Villa striker has been shown a yellow card.

Here is the substitution the Villa fans have been waiting for. Belgian striker Christian Benteke is on for Libor Kozak.

Bacuna crosses for Benteke, who leaps high to get head to the delivery but can’t direct it on target. His introduction has cetainly put a string in Villa’s step though.

Tottenham are about to bring on Aaron Lennon, making his return to the first team having been out since the opening day of the season.

GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Spurs (Roberto Soldado)

A well-worked goal doubles their advantage. Paulinho play a delightful first-timed pass into the path of Soldado and the Spanish international shows composure to stroke the ball past Guzan.

Substitutes on either side – Yacouba Sylla is on for Karim El Ahmadi and Moussa Dembele replaces Lewis Holtby.

Townsend really wants a second here and has just sent a strike narrowly over the bar.

Townsend breezes past Luna and puts the ball in an inviting area. Paulinho looks sure to head in from close range but is unable to get the vital touch.

Jermain Defoe has been given four minutes plus time added on with Soldado making way.

Full-time: Aston Villa 0-2 Spurs

After that defeat to West Ham before the international break, Spurs get back on track with a solid display. They’re up to fifth in the table and are level on points with Manchester City.

Villa weren’t bad and will be delighted to have Benteke back for upcoming fixtures with Everton and West Ham.

“It has been one of the best few weeks of my life,” man-of-the-match Andros Townsend tells Sky Sports. “The main thing was to get back to winning ways after West Ham.”

One the goal, he adds: “It was a cross – I’m not going to take credit for it.”

Paddy McCourt scores a typically-brilliant Paddy McCourt goal

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