Tottenham Hotspur seek response against Aston Villa after Europa League disaster
It’s been a very difficult week for Tottenham Hotspur and Jose Mourinho. After a defeat to Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur suffered a shock elimination in the 2020-21 Europa League against Slavia Prague.
If the pain of losing the North London derby was not enough, the humiliation of exiting Europe despite holding a 2-0 first-leg advantage marked a low point for Tottenham Hotspur.
Jose Mourinho has already apologised for his team's disastrous performance in the second leg at Dinamo Zagreb, which saw the hosts win 3-0 on the night to reach to the Europa League quarter-finals.
However, the Portuguese still has a lot to do to turns things around. In the aftermath of that humiliating defeat, the only thing that could appease the Tottenham Hotspur faithful would be a triumph in the Carabao Cup against Manchester City in the final.
Tottenham Hotspur look to recover from Europa League debacle
Tottenham’ Hotspur's performance against Dinamo Zagreb in midweek was lethargic, lifeless, disastrous, listless and much more.
But with a game against Aston Villa coming up on Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur have an opportunity to turn things around and return to winning ways. They were on a five-game winning run before losing to Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb.
In the aftermath of his team's Europa League exit, Mourinho spoke at length about how his players abandoned the basics of football and played with no attitude. Now, though, Tottenham Hotspur have the opportunity to put things right.
“Football is not just about players who think they have more quality than others; the basics of football go beyond that. The basics of football is the attitude, and they beat us on that,” Mourinho said, as quoted by the club’s official website. Before the game I told the players a risk of a bad attitude. I told the players at half-time the risk of playing the way we were playing, and it happened because I believe the players only realised the game was at risk when they scored the second goal, and the game went to extra time.”
Tottenham Hotspur have underwhelmed for much of the season, but now it’s time to step up. A win over Aston Villa will certainly help build momentum ahead of the international break.
Top-four finish still possible for Tottenham Hotspur
The most intriguing aspect about this season’s Premier League is that aside from Manchester City, every other team has looked fallible and likely to drop points.
As the season approaches its finale, the race for the top four is wide open and is all set to be an intriguing one.
Although they are eighth in the league table at the moment, six points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur have a game in hand over their London rivals.
If they manage to find some consistency, a top-four finish is not an improbable proposition for Tottenham Hotspur. However, they'll need to beat Aston Villa on Sunday to confirm their top-four credentials.