On October 1 2007, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa played out a thrilling 4-4 draw that saw Spurs mount a comeback from 4-1 down.
Follow Us
Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are not traditional rivals by any sense of the word. Both are teams who have once tasted success but, in modern-day terms, are not up there challenging for trophies. Villa, in fact, have even been relegated in recent years and come back to the Premier League. Yet the two are currently in the ever-competitive mid-table slots and both will want to make inroads into the top half of the table. As it turns out, the two sides are set to clash this Sunday (October 3). Which makes it as good a time as any to cast our minds back to when the two sides met on October 1, 2007.
Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa played out a classic match for the ages. And we are now going to look back at what was a crazy night at White Hart Lane.
October 1, 2007 marked Spurs’ 125th anniversary and they celebrated in style. The club paraded some notable club legends around White Hart Lane as the atmosphere took on a party-like feel.
However, the situation off the field was grim. Spurs, under the management of Martin Jol, were languising in the Premier League’s bottom three. They were suspect defensively too – an issue that did haunt them in this game.
Villa were no pushovers either. Under Martin O’Neill, the club had developed into an exciting attacking side and boasted the likes of Ashley Young, Gareth Barry and Gabriel Agbonlahor in their ranks.
Therefore, this was always going to be a close game. But no one in attendance would be able to predict just how close it was going to run.
The game started well enough for Tottenham and they were ahead in the 20th minute. A corner from Tom Huddlestone was met well by Dimitar Berbatov, who nodded home from close range.
However, Villa were level a mere two minutes later. A corner from Gareth Barry looked like a routine collection from Paul Robinson, but he inexplicably dropped it. The ball fell to Martin Laursen, who smashed home from close range.
It was Laursen again who was responsible for the second goal, which came just 11 minutes later. Young played a short free kick to Barry, who was unmarked on the left flank and played the ball in.
A bit of ping-pong ensued but Laursen got the final touch and Spurs were now behind having taken the lead. And it did not get better from there on out.
Agbonlahor collected a knockdown and then got around Michael Dawson before fizzing a low shot from a wide angle past Robinson. 3-1 at half-time having led the game. It’s safe to say Spurs were not in a good position at all.
And again, things did not get better in the second half. At the stroke of the hour mark, Villa had a free-kick in a dangerous position. It was Craig Gardner who stepped up to take it and he pulled off an unusual trick.
Instead of looking to curl one over the wall, he simply fizzed a low shot under the jumping wall and into the bottom corner. If the game didn’t appear dead before, it most certainly did now. Except for the fact that it really wasn’t.
The comeback began with the most benign of moves. Robbie Keane played a short pass out wide to Gareth Bale, who at that time was a young left-back. Bale beat his man and delivered a decent cross to find Jermaine Defoe.
Defoe’s shot rebounded off the post and found Pascal Chimbonda, who duly slotted in the rebound. 2-4 with 21 minutes to go. Impossible as it seemed, a comeback was a distinct possibility.
It became more than distinct in the 81st minute. A free-kick played in by Huddlestone led to Marlon Harewood clumsily fouling Darren Bent inside the area. The referee duly pointed to the spot and Keane easily converted the penalty. 3-4 now.
Yet even though they’d scored twice, Spurs’ shaky defence meant there was some doubt over a comeback. But momentum in football is a funny thing. Once it goes against a team, they are often powerless to stop it and miracles can happen.
That is exactly what occured in stoppage time. A long throw-in led to a game of head tennis between the Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa players.
Eventually the ball fell to Younes Kaboul, who rifled one into the roof of the net. White Hart Lane exploded in joy, the unlikeliest of comebacks having now been completed.
