Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers fired Aston Villa past Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-1 victory at Villa Park to reach the fifth round of 2024-25 FA Cup.
Ramsey fired Villa ahead after 57 seconds from Rogers’ forward-attacking pass towards the left flank as the hosts enjoyed a dominant first half.
Rogers eventually wrapped up a first FA Cup win at home for Villa against Spurs with a 64th minute strike after he met a poor clearance from Pedro Porro.
Mathys Tel however denied Villa a clean sheet with his first strike for Tottenham in the 91st minute from Dejan Kulusevski’s deep cross.
Villa will discover their fifth-round opposition live on BBC One’s The One Show on Monday 10 February at 7:10pm GMT, whilst Spurs’ search for a first trophy in any competition since their 2008 League Cup triumph will extend into a 18th year.
Speaking to BBC One post-match, Ramsey was pleased to see Villa end their ten-year wait for a fifth-round appearance after they reached the final in 2014-15 season.
“I don’t think I have been in an FA Cup fifth round for a long, long while. I’ve been in the first team for four or five years and we have been getting knocked out in the first or second game. So, we wanted to put on a performance for the fans and we did that today.”
After their humiliatingly lacklustre Carabao Cup exit at Liverpool on Thursday (6 February), Tottenham certainly made a horrific start to this FA Cup tie as Rogers was allowed to casually tee up Ramsey to fire in – albeit via Antonin Kinsky’s flappy deflection – on a quick counter-attack inside 57 seconds.
Ramsey’s effort consequently meant that Villa had scored their first FA Cup goal at home against Tottenham, having drawn blanks in three previous clashes at Villa Park in this competitions
Villa proceeded to quickly establish control but Donyell Malen, Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans and Ramsey saw further chances blocked by Kinsky in the first half, as the Czech Republic youth international single-handedly kept Spurs just one goal behind at half-time.
Tottenham’s best chance in the half came from a 24th minute piece of attacking play up the right flank, which culminated in Son Heung-min firing Mikey Moore’s low cross into Villa goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez.
Ange Postecoglou subsequently opted to substitute Moore for Yves Bissouma at the break which sparked life into Tottenham early in the second half, yet the North-London club still couldn’t produce clear-cut opportunities despite Son and Bissouma’s shots being blocked by Villa players.
Ramsey almost doubled his and Villa’s goal tally for this tie as he met a 58th minute pass but his shot was blocked by Kevin Danso.
Villa eventually found that important second goal in the 64th minute through Bailey’s low cross across the box from Malen’s pass, yet Porro could only make a tame clearance for Rogers to latch onto and smash into an empty net and wrap up the Villains’ first FA Cup win at home over Tottenham.
Spurs nevertheless tried to salvage a goal for the sake of their morale but Danso flicked Porro’s 77th minute low cross wide of the top-left corner.
Tottenham eventually salvaged a morale-boosting goal in the first minute of injury-time as Kulusevski’s deep cross was rifled in by Tel for his first goal in his second appearance in the club.
Villa ultimately clung on in the end to secure victory and a first appearance in the fifth round since they finished runners-up to Arsenal in the 2014-15 Final
What’s Next?
Villa turn their action to their push for a top-four Premier League finish with a home clash against relegation-battling Ipswich on Saturday 15 February at 3pm GMT.
Spurs too return to league action with a mid-table battle against fellow underperformers, Manchester United at home on Sunday 16 February (4:30pm).
Teams
Aston Villa: Emiliano Martinez, Andres Garcia, Ezri Konsa (Bogarde 27′), Boubacar Kamara, Lucas Digne (Maatsen 81′), John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Leon Bailey (Asensio 66′), Morgan Rogers, Jacob Ramsey, Donyell Malen (Rashford 66′)
Substitutes: Marco Asensio, Lamare Bogarde, Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, Ian Maatsen, Robin Olsen, Marcus Rashford, Oliwer Zych
Tottenham: Antonin Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso, Archie Gray, Djed Spence, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur (Sarr 72′), Mikey Moore (Bissouma 46′), Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min, Mathys Tel
Substitutes: Damola Ajayi, Brandon Austin, Yves Bissouma, Dante Cassanova, Ben Davies, Fraser Forster, Malachi Hardy, Sergio Reguilon, Pape Matar Sarr
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