Tottenham’s shadow squad took 70 minutes to break down Aston Villa before finally sealing their place in the next round of the FA Cup. Here’s how we rated the players at White Hart Lane.
Michel Vorm: 7
Fairly untroubled by a Villa side who came to defend, although he did have to field a tame shot from Leandro Bacuna.
Cameron Carter-Vickers: 8
A fine display from the USA international on only his third senior appearance for Spurs. Won 10 headers – as many as the Villa starting XI put together – and put in a timely challenge to deny the visitors their best chance.
Toby Alderweireld: 7
Also made a superb block in that same opportunity, which was about as stretched as he got. Came off after 69 minutes to allow for an extra attacking player as Spurs hunted the breakthrough goal.
Kevin Wimmer: 7
Solid enough defensively but could perhaps have been braver in how he used the ball, or taken advantage of Villa’s lack of ambition by stepping into the open spaces in front of him.
Kieran Trippier: 8
An excellent outlet down the right-hand side, putting in one particularly outstanding cross which Son Hueng-min couldn’t finish. He often had the upper hand on Villa’s highly-rated Jordan Amavi, too.
Harry Winks: 8
Another impressive display from the 20-year-old, outshining the efforts of Villa’s Jack Grealish. Much of Spurs’ central play went through him and he continues to show awareness beyond his years. He also forced Sam Johnstone into a good save.
Eric Dier: 7
Captain for the day and was generally neat and tidy, although he struggled to find his passing range at times in the first half and was off-target with a couple of shots.
Ben Davies: 7
The coupon-buster. An unlikely first goalscorer but he took it extremely well, although he did not look entirely comfortable defensively, with much of Villa’s most promising attack emanating from his side.
Moussa Sissoko: 7
One particularly lively run early on didn’t really set the tone. He was in and out of the game, but when he was in it he looked like making Villa pay – and did so in the closing stages when he set up Son for the second goal.
Vincent Janssen: 5
His lack of confidence was clear for all to see, with his poor touches and often conveniently being in a position not to receive the ball. No surprise when he was hauled off.
Son Heung-min: 7
Should have scored when Trippier laid the ball on a plate for him but made amends when he made the game safe late on.
Dele Alli: 7
Brought on after an hour to try and pep up Tottenham’s blunt attack. Although he got involved, it was more his sheer presence that changed things – it allowed Son to replace Janssen and lifted the team generally.
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou: 7
Set up the goal that broke Villa’s resistance just moments after coming on, his pace and inventiveness giving the workmanlike Villa defence fresh problems they could not cope with.