View: Tyrone Mings outclasses England teammate Harry Kane during Aston Villa win v Tottenham
Unai Emery continued his brilliant start to life as Aston Villa manager with a 2-0 win against Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur, as he made it nine points from a possible 12 in the Premier League since his arrival.
Second-half goals from Emi Buendia and Douglas Luiz were just a reward for Villa’s efforts, which had seen them defend diligently for large periods of the opening 45 minutes.
The win means Emery’s side sits just four points off Chelsea in eighth and seven points off Liverpool in sixth place, with favourable fixtures against Wolves, Leeds United, Southampton and Leicester City awaiting this month.
From Douglas Luiz’s man-of-the-match performance to Ashley Young’s stunning shift at right-back, there were many stand-out performers on Sunday afternoon (1 January), but Tyrone Mings was nothing short of exceptional.
Following a tough 12 months in which he was stripped of the Villa captaincy, dropped by Steven Gerrard, and not taken to the Qatar World Cup by Gareth Southgate, it would be easy for Mings to drop his head and resign himself to a season of mediocrity in the West Midlands.
Barring a wobble against Chelsea – in which he gifted Mason Mount the opening goal – the 29-year-old has been the bedrock of Villa’s defence this season and proven a large majority of his doubters wrong.
Against Spurs, although not fully recognised due to several other outstanding performances, he was at his very best as he limited Harry Kane to crumbs and scraps all afternoon long.
Over the 90 minutes, the former Bournemouth man proved himself the more physically dominant of the pair, stronger in the air and sharper on his feet – pocketing his England skipper with remarkable ease.
His dominance – alongside Ezri Konsa, needless to say – was such that Kane didn’t touch the football until 19 minutes into the game, and even that was when Mings nipped into him and recovered the ball for his side.
Recording just one shot on goal all game and losing possession a remarkable ten times during the game, the Spurs talisman felt the heat from Villa’s centre-back partnership all game long. [Sofascore]
Emery now has a lot to contend with following this brilliant display from Mings, who was otherwise likely to fall beneath Diego Carlos in the pecking order when he returned from injury.
Competition for places is brewing up nicely at Villa, and the centre-back headache Mings has given his Spanish manager will come as a delight to fans.
In other Aston Villa news, academy loanee Caleb Chukwuemeka struggles to find his goal-scoring boots at Crawley Town in League 2.