Match Report: Sandro's Midfield Display Crucial In Win Over Aston Villa

In a turgid opening 45 minutes at a rain drenched Villa Park, much of the focus was on the ensuing midfield battle between Fabian Delph and Sandro. The former has been impressive for Aston Villa this season and, it can be argued, is deserving of a place in the England squad, while the latter was drafted in at the expense of Mousa Dembélé, making his first Premier League start of the season in the process.

The Brazil international was brought in to stifle the Villans’ attacking threat on the break, with one of their WhoScored.com strengths being ‘counter attacks’. Much of this has been down to the displays of Delph in the middle of the park. The youngster has made a blistering start to the campaign, securing an average rating of 7.55, the highest of every Villa player.

Ultimately, limiting his impact turned the game in Spurs’ favour and Sandro was key to that. The battling midfielder was imperious in the heart of the midfield for the north London side prior to his injury at QPR last season, but returned to first-team domestic duties in blistering form here. As such, he ended the encounter with a rating of 7.8, only teammate Andros Townsend (9.0) scored higher of every player on the pitch.

That figure was an improvement on Delph’s 7.0 as the England hopeful struggled to really dominate the midfield.Sandro was calm and collected, making 3 tackles and committing just the 2 fouls. While Delph made 4 tackles, 1 more than Sandro, committing 4 fouls and being yellow carded suggests that his frustration got the better of him as the game wore on, encapsulated in bringing Townsend down late on when there was no need.

This will come as little surprise to the neutral football fan and emphasises his WhoScored.com weakness of ‘discipline’. Crucially, this recklessness in the midfield ensured his rating was lower than that of Sandro as the Spurs ace efficiently went about marshalling the midfield. This aided in guaranteeing that the visitors remained the dominant side, reinforced in their possession (63%) following the full time whistle, with the former Internacional star having a helping hand in Spurs’ overall pass success from the game being 80%. Comparatively, Villa’s was just 68%.

While Delph won possession in the midfield third the most times of every player (6) in the encounter, Sandro still did so an impressive 4 times, but when taking into account Spurs’ higher possession stats, it points towards the latter’s ability in successfully recovering the ball during the time Villa were in the ascendency. This not only helped minimise the midfielder’s threat from deep, but also allowed Spurs to recycle possession effectively, with the reassuring Sandro clearly pivotal to this, backing up the opinion of supporters that he was one of the best players on the pitch.

Successfully drifting past the opposition 2 times when in possession highlights how Sandro proved to be the driving force from deep for Spurs, despite being tasked with shielding the defence against Villa. Compared to Delph, who completed just the 1, this further accentuates how the Brazilian controlled the game in the heart of the midfield.

“Sandro, before he got injured last season, was the best recoverer of the ball in the Premier League and it was a great performance by him,” were the words of Spurs head coach André Villas-Boas following the victory at Villa Park, his opinion supported in that the midfielder averaged 3.6 interceptions per game last term; only Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin (3.9) made more. Now with a first Premier League start of the season under his belt, the youngster exhibited exactly why he is deserving of a regular first-team spot in the comprehensive victory on Sunday.