By Rob Bishop at Villa Park

Villa virtually secured Barclays Premier League safety by taking a point against high-riding Tottenham Hotspur in Villa Park's final match of the season.

Although Ciaran Clark's 35th-minute opener was cancelled out by an Emmanuel Adebayor penalty just past the hour mark, the result all but guarantees the club's 102nd season of top flight football.

Blackburn Rovers and relegated Wolves are unable to climb above Alex McLeish's men and it would take a goal swing of 17 for Bolton to climb above Villa on the last day of the season.

Clark's long-range goal offered hope of a victory to sign off the campaign, but after Tottenham's Danny Rose was shown a red card for a reckless challenge which put Alan Hutton out of the game, Adebayor levelled the score with his 61st-minute spot kick.

Not for the first time this season, Villa were beset by injury problems.

Already without Gabby Agbonlahor, who was ruled out by bruised ribs, they also lost Emile Heskey, Hutton and substitute Andreas Weimann during a bruising contest.

After Charles N'Zogbia had seen an early shot deflected for a corner, home supporters were yelling for a penalty in the 11th minute when Heskey went down under Younes Kaboul's challenge in the area following Stephen Ireland's perfectly-weighted through ball.

Video evidence, to be fair, indicated that it was a fair tackle by the Tottenham defender.

The chance had been created when Ireland intercepted Kyle Walker's pass, although the former Villa loanee soon proved to be a threat at the other end with two 20-yard efforts.

The first was well over but the second, a rising drive from an almost identical position, flashed narrowly past the angle.

In between times, Richard Dunne did well to divert Luka Modric's low drive for a corner, and the skipper again came to the rescue with a diving header to put the ball behind from Walker's menacing centre.

But just when Spurs seemed to be taking control, Clark made a breakthrough for Villa.

Collecting a short pass from N'Zogbia, the midfielder took a couple of strides forward before unleashing a tremendous 30-yard drive which clipped Gallas's head and flew past a stranded Brad Friedel.

Spurs responded with a powerful Gareth Bale shot which was turned aside by Shay Given, while Rafael Van Der Vaart fired just wide.

Not surprisingly, the Londoners applied heavy pressure immediately after the break before being reduced to 10 men following Rose's tackle, which left Hutton writhing in agony.

As the Villa right-back was receiving treatment, Weimann went on as a substitute for Heskey, with James Collins also going on when it became evident Hutton could not continue.

But in the 61st minute Tottenham were level, Adebayor sending Given the wrong way from the spot following Dunne's trip on Sandro.

Four minutes later, N'Zogbia's precise pass sent Weimann racing through the middle, only for Friedel to race out and boot the ball away.

The former Villa keeper caught Weimann's knee as he cleared, and although the Austrian striker attempted to carry on, he made way for Nathan Delfouneso on 70 minutes.

After that, Dunne wasn't far off target with a header from N'Zogbia's corner, while Given ensured that the point remained intact with a late save from Bale.

Villa: Given; Hutton (Collins 52), Dunne, Cuellar, Lichaj; N'Zogbia, Herd, Clark, Warnock; Ireland; Heskey (Weimann 52, Delfouneso 70). Unused subs: Guzan, Bannan, Gardner, Carruthers.

Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Gallas, Kaboul, Rose; Lennon, Sandro, Modric, Bale; Van Der Vaart (Parker 89); Adebayor. Unused subs: Cudicini, Saha, Dos Santos, Defoe, Livermore, Nelsen.