Tim Sherwood praised Youri Tielemans for his impactful performance from the bench in Aston Villa’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
During most of the first half, Unai Emery’s side struggled, finding themselves 1-0 down and facing the possibility of a more significant deficit by the time Aston Villa equalised.
Aston Villa capitalised on Spurs’ vulnerabilities with a brilliant Pau Torres header just before half-time, courtesy of an outstanding ball from Douglas Luiz.
At halftime, Unai Emery made several changes, including bringing on Youri Tielemans, who went on to provide the assist for Ollie Watkins’ winning goal.
Tim Sherwood highlighted Tielemans’ impact, emphasising how the ‘classy’ midfielder, who can’t even secure a spot in the starting XI, made ‘all the difference’ to propel Villa into the Champions League places.
“That man Tielemans was all the difference – he picks the right pass at the right time, all of the time.
“Here he takes a touch (for the assist). That looks simple, but the right weight of pass into Ollie, then he finishes it brilliantly,” he told the Premier League productions.
But the game could and arguably should have been out of sight with the number of excellent positions Spurs got into, especially in the first half. Spurs finished the game hitting the woodwork twice, missing three big chances and Heung-min Son was denied multiple goals by the offside flag.