So I went to the bookies to put on my ritual bet, Tottenham to win. I’ve found that whenever I bet on the Villa, be it win lose or draw, you can always guarantee that it will always be the opposite.

Now, every Villa game I put a £1 bet on the other team to win as a kind of superstition, hopefully making the Villa win. But Monday night was something out of the ordinary, Ladbrokes gave me 6/1 against a Tottenham win and I couldn’t believe that things had got that bad down the old White Hard Lane where the bookies make the opposition such favourites when they are playing at home.

Aston Villa haven't beaten Spurs in the last  five games, managing only five wins out of the last 22 meetings between the Premiership old fogies. So what made Monday's game any different?

'Villa can never, ever keep hold of a big lead. Don’t ask me why'


Well, there I am, sitting in my local pub in Southend sporting my Aston Villa shirt, surrounded by subdued Tottenham fans eagerly awaiting kick-off. The place was quiet, no chanting fans, no fun, no banter, nothing. I can safely say I was the only Villa fan there so I couldn’t be expected to fill the place with noise by myself. But when Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring the noise levels grew, soon silenced thanks to Martin Laursen’s double,  not forgetting the part Paul Robinson played in those goals.

When the Villa were 4-1 ahead the pub started emptying of fans acknowledging that it was game over, but when Pascal Chimbonda and Robbie Keane made it 4-3, things got interesting. Never before have I heard a group of football fans scream for a draw more than last night. “Just one more” was all I could hear. And when that Younes Kaboul goal went in, you’d have thought they’d won the Champions League judging by the reactions of the punters.

The fact is that Villa were lucky. Tottenham dominated possession, had far more corners and fully deserved each and every one of their goals (although Jermaine Defoe was clearly offside for the equaliser). Villa only found themselves three goals to the good due to two howlers from Robinson and awful positioning of the wall.

Every time Tottenham went forward they were a threat, but the Villa never really made anything of their attacks. Gareth Bale was inspirational dominating the left side but the only thing that stopped Tottenham taking all three points and only conceding one was the keeper and the defence. They just never really seemed to do anything with the possession. What good is it having Berbatov, Keane, Defoe and Darren Bent if there’s no one behind then worth their salt?

I’m not surprised at 4-4 even though Villa had failed to score away before last night. Tottenham seem to be leaking goals lately and Villa can never, ever keep hold of a big lead. Don’t ask me why.

But the reason to me that the Spurs fans in the pub celebrated so hard on getting that point was due to the fact that they’ve had nothing much to celebrate of late. Let’s hope they can turn it round and get back on track. I’m pleased for Tottenham and I’m pleased for Martin Jol and I hope that this performance of grit and determination is enough to earn him a stay of execution.

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