A very defensive display from Aston Villa, more so during the second half, forced Spurs to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw. If they’re wondering how they could knock 9 past Wigan last week, but struggled to find the net at all today at Villa Park they need look no further than Brad Friedel and Carlos Cuellar. I don’t normally bother with MotM, but if pushed for an answer I’d give it to the Spaniard as he was also a threat at the other end. Make no mistake though, the American made some point saving saves today.

Martin O’Neill was forced into a change at the back with Stephen Warnock being absent though illness. Luke Young switched to the left, with Habib Beye brought in on the right. Collins still struggling with his groin injury, it was again Cuellar and Dunne in the centre. MON also made the encouraging decision to add some grit in the middle by pairing Petrov up with Nigel Reo-Coker.

It started fairly brightly for Villa and although Tottenham forced Friedel to prove he was awake early on, it was the home side that was threatening the most. At least territorially. A number of corners finally paid dividends when Carlos Cuellar headed Milner’s right sided corner to the near post, only to see it cleared off the line. The ball bundled to the far post and Gabby was quickest to react.

Although the visitors showed glimpses of why they were fourth in the table going into this game, playing some nice football at times, Villa were worthy enough of their lead at the break. Certainly Reo-Coker’s presence in the middle shored things up enough to break up some of Tottenham’s flow and if he was better equipped to make use of some good positions he gets himself we would be so much more dangerous.

Carew seemed to be up for this game during most of the first half and with Gabby showing willingness to chase everything there was every reason to feel reasonably satisfied that Villa had the ability to punish any efforts from Tottenham to chase a goal during the second half.

And that’s how the second half looked to shape up after Villa restarted the game. Tottenham made a few unforced errors and Villa looked to capitalize. However, it didn’t continue that way. Somewhere along the way, I’m not sure where, Tottenham got more and more of the ball, forcing Villa deeper and deeper into their own half. I’m not talking 10 men behind the ball here, sadly I’m talking fully 11. Seriously.

Time and time again Tottenham attacked, but were getting nothing from the Villa defense mounting an impressive rear guard. Unfortunately, the aimless clearances were just handing possession back to the Londoners to mount another attempt.

On the odd occasion that Villa did get hold of the ball in Tottenham’s half, they were being brushed off the ball far too easily, although referee Phil Dowd offered no protection. The referee may not have been endearing himself to the home crowd, but he could have been forgiven at that point for mistaking who the home team were. It really did seem a matter of when, rather than if, Spurs would equalise.

MON brought Sidwell on for Reo-Coker in the 71st minute when it might have more prudent to strengthen the midfield rather than weaken it. On the other hand, it could be argued that an allegedly more attacking midfielder was the more positive move and, in fairness, a second goal really was required. If I’m brutally honest, I just don’t see how that was going to be facilitated by bringing Sidwell on.

The inevitable came from an unexpected source when Michael Dawson thumped in the equaliser on 77 minutes. Dawson had stayed up after Villa had cleared their lines from a corner and he found himself in enough space to take his time shaping his shot. Credit where it’s due, it was a sweetly hit shot that deserved a goal and gave Friedel no chance of keeping a clean sheet. There’s a suggestion of handball by Dawson controlling the ball before unleashing, but it was close enough to the shoulder to give the referee something to think about, if he even saw it. The goal is no more than Spurs deserved.

Despite having Heskey on now in place of Carew, who had become superfluous playing so deep, it was going to be a fingernail chewing last 13 minutes – as if the preceding half hour hadn’t been bad enough. In fact, Heskey almost did provide the winner with a late diving header that looped over a helpless Gomes to bounce safely off the top of the net.

The 3 minutes of injury time couldn’t expire quickly enough, but the final whistle was gratefully blown on a stalemate. The second half stats tell what a horror show performance it was from Villa after the break. In fact, Villa had only a single shot on goal all game and Gomes made zero saves! Quite how the home team can go from looking fairly comfortable and strong in the first half to defending for all their lives in the second is a mystery to me, but that’s not an unfair summary of the game at all.

Kudos is due to Tottenham. Of the chasing group of teams attempting to gatecrash the top four places in the Premiership, they certainly look the most likely to get their foot in the door. They’ll probably win more than they lose playing like that.

Villa’s fortunes look less clear at the moment. December is going to be a tough month with Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool to be faced. We could certainly have done with a stronger platform from November than the 5 from 12 points provides, but we have the squad depth to cope… we just need to use them.

Statshack to follow, but I’ll hazard a guess that it won’t be pretty.