FA Cup: Aston Villa secures fifth round spot with 2-1 victory over Spurs

Aston Villa booked their place in the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in a decade with an impressive 2-1 victory over Tottenham, adding to the pressure on Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou.  

Villa made a dream start, with Jacob Ramsey opening the scoring just 57 seconds into the match. His shot slipped through the hands of Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who should have done better to keep it out.

Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s advantage in the 64th minute, netting his 11th goal of the season after capitalizing on a loose ball in the box and firing it into the roof of the net.

A minute later, Marcus Rashford was introduced from the bench for his Villa debut after his loan move from Manchester United on the penultimate day of the winter transfer window.

It is two cup defeats within four days for Tottenham, who lost 4-0 in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool at Anfield on Thursday. They have also fallen to 14th in the Premier League.

Villa will find out who they will face in the fifth round when the draw is made on BBC One at about 19:10 GMT on Monday

Since losing the 2015 final to Arsenal, Villa had been beaten in the third round of the FA Cup seven times with the other defeats coming in the fourth round.

They have gone almost 30 years without lifting any silverware and, with Liverpool and Arsenal both out of the competition, and Manchester City not at their sparkling best, may be sensing an opportunity to add to their glittering history.

The seven-time winners had 11 shots to Spurs’ three in a one-sided first half and should have gone into the break with more than a 1-0 lead.

They did not let that deter them as they flew out of the blocks for the second period and added to the scoreline through the brilliant Rogers.

Unai Emery’s side missed a number of chances to add to the tally, with Youri Tielemans, who won the FA Cup with Leicester in 2021, coming within inches of finding the bottom corner before Ramsey found himself in a great position to score his second, only for Kinsky to produce a brave stop.

Villa now have two-time FA Cup winner Rashford in their ranks and he almost made an instant impact when his beautiful flick found Rogers, who searched for Ramsey, but Kinsky once again came to Spurs’ aid.