I cannot believe that this is Aston Villa now

Where do you start when you consider *the* change? Was it sacking Steven Gerrard and hiring Unai Emery? Will it be when Mateu Alemany and Chris Heck arrive at Villa Park? Will it be at the end of the season when Villa (hopefully) qualify for European competition.

Most answers will agree with the idea that it is with the arrival of Unai Emery, but what if Villa aren't done? What if there's more to come?

I'm getting ahead of myself. We all are.

But the phrase 'what next?' has a different meaning around these parts these days. It used to be that looking forward at Villa Park would be to stare into the hellmouth and accept fate. Now? There's hope. True hope that is finally paying off our blind faith. This is Aston Villa now, and it's a side looking up.

I'm always nervous when Spurs come to town. In 2016, I took my then-partner to Villa vs Spurs in the relegation season. She fell asleep.

When COVID crept around the corner, Spurs stunned us then. Despite their own men-eating-their-own-hands vibe in Tottenham, it seemed that Villa couldn't do a job against Spurs when the lily-white lads arrived in B6. My memory maybe betrays me here, but I feel like there's a solid cause for my nerves.

I was almost proven right. Villa were beautifully solid today, strolling the ball from foot-to-foot. John McGinn told the immense threat of both Harry Kane & Heung-Min Son who the daddy was. Tyrone Mings, Alex Moreno, Ashley Young and Ezri Konsa once again, would not be beat. Emi Martinez played the game of dramatically saving pointless shots (more to come on that), and Leon Bailey actually looked like he could be a strong threat running down the wing.

Spurs were sad. There will be loads of claims about big-club-bias in the officiating decisions made today (wait for that), but I can't really agree. Spurs are a sad watch when they want to be, and no amount of decisions going their way changes that. They are a club saturated in a bitter irony, and that's only the fanbase.

But on a day that gives Villa a stepladder to step up to the table and eat Spurs' lunch, you'd have perhaps wondered where the fight was? It wasn't with the away side, who have everything to lose. That's for certain.

It was very much with Villa. A slice from Jacob Ramsey and a curling strike (helped by the palms of Fraser Forster) from an imperious Douglas Luiz showed exactly the fight Villa are capable of, and especially so since Emery arrived at the club.

There was fight in the crowd as well, a sublime atmosphere in the Holte End was buoyed by an early goal, and the machinations of the officials.

Their decision (lawfully correct, tbf) to delay the offside flag on offside Spurs attacks frustrated the crowd. Long VAR decisions played the role of a sucker-punch for Villa, specifically late on when a penalty was awarded for Kane after he was 'fouled' by Martinez.

Truth-be-told, I thought it was a foul from where I was stood. At first. Second viewing shows a hungry Kane with his feet up pre-contact and happy to go down to get his penalty.

Foul? Sure thing. Just maybe that rule could be applied consistently, say like when Ollie Watkins was cleaned out by Hugo Lloris a while back?

The rules of the game and their application in the game are at odds. We probably have the best version of whatever the rulebook will be, but when the application of the rules in-game slows the match and needlessly stings teams because many rules are bent by the tempo of a match and 'intent', it seems like the laws where an ever-present line defines a rule, that we should at-least get that spot on.

I'm probably splitting hairs, but when play can continue for almost a minute after a clear-to-most offside (and Martinez can save the resulting shot excellently anyway), what's the actual point of a lines-man?

Even more so when they get a decision correct, and then allow the resulting free-kick to take place in a clearly illegal position. Villa got flagged, the Spurs free-kick is awarded meters away - in Villa's own half. If I've gotten that right, that situation is entirely implausible. These little things add up.

But it didn't end up mattering. Villa held on, and the loud crowd swelled with optimism amid the final whistle. After a number of stinging results, there's room once more to dream. The Villans are taking their fight for a European place to the death.

They've smashed into the top 7, and I mean smashed. They've kicked the door off of its hinges and declared their arrival.

Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' played over the PA as players walked off and it's hard to disagree. Once again, Villa did not back down even despite a late-penalty and six additional minutes. I'd suggest that based on their gatecrashing of the top seven that The Damned's 'Smash It Up' is probably more fitting. They've broken in, and ideally it's for good.

There's still matches to come, and Villa are well up for the fight. It's time to dream again.

Thank you, Unai. I can't believe it.