Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham: Son treble fires Spurs closer to Champions League

Heung-Min Son hit a blistering hat-trick as Tottenham stamped their authority on the race for fourth place with a 4-0 win at Aston Villa.

Boosted by Arsenal's earlier defeat to Brighton, Tottenham moved three points past their north London rivals after a clinical second-half effort at Villa Park showed Antonio Conte's team at their best.

All the momentum, for now, is with Spurs, and they led from the third minute when Son fired in off the left post.

Harry Kane helped to create the second for Dejan Kulusevski and also set up Son to stretch the visitors' lead to 3-0, before Kulusevski fed Son to fire in his third of the game.

Tottenham snatched a fortuitous lead when a wayward Kane strike hit Villa defender Matty Cash and bounced kindly to Son, whose finish in off the left upright was exquisite.

Jacob Ramsey went close to an equaliser after waltzing through the Spurs defence and forcing Hugo Lloris to save well. Lloris pushed away a long-range effort from John McGinn, before Danny Ings failed to make a firm connection on a volley.

Ings then missed Villa's clearest opening of the first half when he bundled wide after Ollie Watkins headed Ramsey's cross into his path.

Villa were to pay for those misses in the second half, with Kulusevski doubling Tottenham's lead with a classy strike across Emiliano Martinez after a headed assist from Kane.

Son made it 3-0 in the 67th minute, with Kane nodding Cristian Romero's long pass into the path of the forward, who made no mistake after running beyond the Villa defence.

The hat-trick strike came in the 72nd minute when Son played the ball to Kulusevski on the right before making his way infield and finding space just behind the penalty spot to sweep in.

Tottenham were so rampant that Ashley Young resorted to hacking down Kane with a late challenge, leaving the England striker hobbling. Young was booked, as was Kane for a lunge at Leon Bailey in the closing moments, a rare misstep.

What does it mean? Streaking Spurs in pole position

Tottenham have won four games in a row in the Premier League and six of their past seven, which is more than Conte might have expected given their previous rollercoaster form. 

They have bagged 12 goals in the past three games. Kane has not found the net in any of those but he impressed again and left the scoring to Son and Kulusevski.

While Arsenal fade, Tottenham are flourishing just as the end of the season comes into view. 

It promises to be some battle between those old rivals for fourth, given Arsenal have a game in hand and the teams must meet on May 12.

Son chasing Salah, Spurs deadly in attack

Son is now just three goals behind Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, the long-time leader in this season's scoring charts. 

Taking away penalties, Son is the leader with 17 goals to Salah's 15.

This was his second Premier League hat-trick, with both coming away from home – the first at Southampton in September 2020. 

He is one of only eight players to score his first two hat-tricks in the competition away from home and the first since Alexis Sanchez in 2016.

Two's company, three is a game-changer

Son and Kane were well established as a top-class partnership before Kulusevski's arrival, but the Sweden winger has added pep to the relationship between Tottenham's front players.

The former Juventus man has turned a double act into a three-man show, contributing immensely to the recent upturn in fortunes. Since his Premier League debut on February 9, only team-mates Kane (13) and Son (12) have been involved in more goals in the competition than Kulusevski (nine).

Key Opta facts

– Villa have lost five of their 10 home league games under Steven Gerrard (W3 D2); since his first Premier League game in charge of the club in November, only the division's bottom two clubs Watford (nine) and Norwich City (six) have lost more home matches in the competition.
– Tottenham are the sixth side to beat Villa both home and away in the Premier League this season; only Watford (seven) have had more sides complete a double over them in the division in 2021-22.
– Spurs have scored at least twice in each of their past seven Premier League games; only from September to December 2011 (11 matches) have they ever had a longer such run in the competition.
– Kane provided his 21st Premier League assist for a Son goal; only Frank Lampard has assisted a single team-mate to score more times in the competition's history (24 to Didier Drogba). This accounts for exactly half of Kane's top-flight assists (21/42).
– Lloris made seven saves in the opening 45 minutes; since Opta have this data available (from 2006-07), it was the most by a Tottenham goalkeeper in the first half of any Premier League match.

What's next?

Spurs host Brighton next weekend. Villa are next due in action against Leicester on Saturday, April 23.