Beware the Ides of March Aston Villa.
Martin O’Neill has yet to win a match in charge of Villa in March since taking over in August 2006.
And yesterday O’Neill saw his side’s Champions League’s ambitions suffer a potentially fatal blow on March 15 - a date that went down in history following Julius Caesar’s assasination in 44BC.
After dropping out of the top four for the first time this year following’s Arsenal’s impressive rout of Blackburn, Villa were desperate for victory.
But they fell behind to Jermaine Jenas’ opener after just five minutes and Darren Bent made it 2-0 to Spurs in the 50th minute.
Villa top scorer John Carew halved the deficit late on with his 11th of the campaign but his 60th-minute introduction as sub was too late for many fans.
Their latest depressing result means Villa have not won in seven matches after exiting both the FA Cup and UEFA Cup in quick succession.
And the rampant optimism coursing around Villa Park earlier this term has been replaced by frustration and concern.
There is even some dissent in the stands, fuelled largely by O’Neill’s decision to field a weakened team in Moscow which condemned the club to defeat to Europe.
The mood is by no means mutinous, but with Villa facing matches at Liverpool and Manchester United next, few people will bet on a top four finish now.
And failure to secure a Champions League berth will certainly have serious ramifications for Gareth Barry’s future this summer.
Right now, many of the team’s problems stem from the loss of influential captain Martin Laursen, who has a potential season-ending knee injury which first flared up at Christmas.
O’Neill tried to plug the gap by moving for Micah Richards in January as Zat Knight and Carlos Cuellar are not in the Dane’s class.
But Villa’s only transfer activity in January was buying Emile Heskey from Wigan for £3.5million.
The striker is yet to fully integrate successfully into Villa’s style of play, which relies heavily on the pace of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young.
Heskey’s arrival has also seen Carew relegated to the bench - disrupting his profitable partnership with Agbonlahor.
While opposition teams have woken up to the threat of Young on the left-wing and started to double mark the star as Spurs did yesterday.
Agbonlahor cut such a forlorn figure against Tottenham, O’Neill’s home-grown hero was jeered off.
And Villa fans then booed their team at the end as they failed to add to a paltry haul of just five home wins in Premier League this term.
O’Neill said: "It was very disappointing but we are still capable.
"Way back in November we lost two times in six days at Newcastle and at home to Middlesbrough and then had to go Arsenal and play Manchester United.
"It was the start of a 13-game unbeaten run and we will have to get something from the next two games which will be pretty difficult.
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"But I genuinely believe it is possible and we can fight back.
"I genuinely think the players still believe that too but the goals were poor today.
"Arsenal have a superior goal difference but we have to do better at Villa Park.
"We have to galvanise ourselves and force the ball over the line as we were unable to storm back today.
"First half with Ashley Young in such good form it looked as if it was a case of when we might get the equaliser but it wasn’t to be."
O’Neill made a kind gesture to Harry Redknapp by walking down the touchline to the dug-outs side-by-side with the Tottenham manager, who had a 50p thrown at him on his previous visit to Villa Park.
And the hosts were just as hospitable on the pitch as Spurs opened the scoring in the fifth minute through Jenas.
Aaron Lennon created the danger with a cross from the right which keeper Brad Friedel could only palm out and midfielder Jenas was on hand to head in his third goal of the season.
Villa tried to respond and Ashley Young tormented Didier Zokora so badly in the first half that Redknapp hauled off the Ivory Coast international to put on Vedran Corluka in the 35th minute.
Yet the visitors might have doubled their lead as Carlos Cuellar’s mistake let in Bent whose cross was blocked by Zat Knight with Robbie Keane lurking.
Villa keeper Brad Friedel then still needed to make an excellent one-handed save from Luka Modric in the 44th minute.
Heskey could have levelled as he headed Gareth Barry’s left-foot cross against the bar from six yards before the break.
But Spurs were quick out of the blocks after the interval and raced into a 2-0 lead in the 50th minute.
Keane had a shot which beat Friedel and was rolling in but Bent was there to help it over the line for his 15th goal of the season.
Thereafter a desperate O’Neill took off defender Knight to throw on Norwegian striker Carew.
But Friedel was still arguably the busier keeper despite Carew heading in James Milner’s cross in the 84th minute.
Aston Villa: Friedel 7, Reo-Coker 6, Cuellar 5, Knight 6 (Carew 60, 7) , L Young 6, Milner 6, Petrov 6, Barry 7, A Young 7, Agbonlahor 6 (Delfouneso 79,6) , Heskey 6 (Gardner 82,6) .
Tottenham: Gomes 7, Zokora 6 (Corluka 35, 7), King 8, Woodgate 8, Assou-Ekotto 6, Lennon 7, Jenas 8, Palacios 6, Modric 7 (O’Hara 82, 6) , Bent 7, Keane 6.
Anorak stat: Villa’s last win was more than a month ago at Blackburn.
Man of the match: Jermaine Jenas. The midfielder bossed the game and scored.
Villain of the match: Carlos Cuellar. Villa’s £8million defender looked shaky at the back.
Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent)
( James Nursey / Mirror )
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