Son stars as Tottenham ‘rout’ Champions League rivals Villa
BIRMINGHAM, England, March 10, (AP): Tottenham boosted its bid to qualify for the Champions League by routing 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Fifth-placed Spurs moved to within two points of Villa in fourth with a game in hand.
Goals from James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Son Heung-Min and Timo Werner secured a resounding victory at Villa Park.
Villa’s cause wasn’t helped by John McGinn being sent off in the 65th, but Unai Emery’s team was already trailing 2-0 by that point.
Maddison opened the scoring in the 50th when poking home Pape Sarr’s cross from the right.
Johnson doubled Spurs’ lead three minutes later after an assist from Son.
Villa captain McGinn had described the clash as “the most important game in the club’s recent history,” but his sending off effectively killed off any hopes of a comeback from the home team.
He was shown a straight red for taking down Destiny Udogie and from there Villa’s challenge collapsed.
Son lashed in Spurs’ third in the first minute of stoppage time after a cross from Dejan Kulusevski and substitute Werner rounded off the win three minutes later, with Son the provider again.
Kai Havertz’s late goal secured Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Brentford.
Havertz had been somewhat fortunate to avoid a second booking for a dive in the area earlier in the second half, a decision that proved crucial when he was on hand to head home a cross from Ben White in the 86th minute.
That extended Arsenal’s Premier League winning streak to eight games in 2024 and atoned for a howler by goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale that had gifted Brentford an equalizer just before the halftime break.
“Massive win for us,” Havertz said. “It wasn’t nice, especially after conceding so close to the (halftime) whistle. We spoke to each other and wanted to turn it around.”
Arsenal had been on a stellar scoring run, netting a combined 21 goals in its last four league games but couldn’t quite replicate that attacking
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prowess against Brentford despite taking the lead when Declan Rice headed home another cross from White in the 19th.
Arsenal continued to dominate but Ramsdale’s mistake in first-half injury time gave Brentford an equalizer out of nothing. The goalkeeper, who was given a rare start because Arsenal’s regular No. 1 David Raya is on loan from Brentford, dawdled on the ball and allowed Yoane Wissa to slide in and block his clearance so that the ball looped into the empty net.
Ramsdale made amends with two good saves in the second half, though. He was caught off his line in the 55th and nearly beaten by Ivan Toney from almost 40 yards but managed to swat the ball away while backtracking.
The goalkeeper showed his best side with a good one-handed save in the 71st to tip a header from Nathan Collins over the bar.
Arsenal then had another spell of heavy dominance and Rice hit the crossbar from long range in the 74th after being teed up by Odegaard following a corner.
The sustained pressure finally paid off when White picked out Havertz for the late winner that kept Arsenal’s title charge on track.