Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur

Aston Villa were defeated by a ruthless Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon.

The home side dominated the first half, forcing Hugo Lloris into several fine saves, but trailed to Heung-Min Son’s third-minute strike.

A brace of fine finishes from the South Korean saw him complete his hat-trick in the second half, adding to Dejan Kulusevski’s goal minutes after the restart.

Spurs’ seventh straight win at Villa Park condemned the home side to a fourth consecutive loss in the Premier League.

Steven Gerrard brought Douglas Luiz and Danny Ings back into the starting XI in response to last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Wolves, but the head coach saw his side concede within the opening three minutes.

Harry Kane’s wayward shot struck the helpless Matty Cash and rebounded into the path of Son, who instantly swivelled and sent a low shot in off the post and beyond the despairing dive of Emiliano Martinez.

After steadying themselves from the early setback, Villa responded well and test Lloris three times in quick succession.

The French goalkeeper parried a drive from Cash before showing great reflexes to deny Jacob Ramsey after the midfielder’s driving run, flying through the air to save John McGinn’s long-range missile with the final act of a busy spell.

A set-piece from the training ground drew another stop from the Spurs skipper just before the half hour mark when Ings latched onto Philippe Coutinho’s deft chip over the wall and fired straight at the ‘keeper.

The Brazilian’s influence grew as Villa took total control of the game, and when he sent in an inviting cross, Ollie Watkins headed narrowly over.

Chances kept coming as the home side pressed for an equaliser, with Watkins, Ings, Cash and Coutinho, twice, all taking aim before the half-time whistle blew.

Tottenham were second best in the first half, but they found themselves 2-0 up within minutes of the restart.

Another long ball from Lloris was flicked into the path of Kulusevski by Kane, and the winger broke into the box before driving a shot through the legs of Tyrone Mings and inside the far post.

Ings went close with a dipping strike as the home side looked to mount a response, but any hopes they had of a comeback were extinguished after 66 minutes.

England captain Kane was again instrumental, dropping deep and flicking a raking pass into space for Son to run onto. The South Korean’s pace took him away from Cash before he lashed the ball past Martinez.

The winger was celebrating a hat-trick shortly after, linking up with Kulusevski on the right-hand side and making his way into the box, where he finished first-time with the aid of a post.

Substitute Leon Bailey came within inches of salvaging a consolation late on, and his near-miss summed up what might have been had Villa been as clinical as their opponents.