Roberto De Zerbi told his Tottenham Hotspur players to silence the voices competing for their attention but his internal monologue would have been extremely good value at Villa Park. When Richarlison headed in on 25 minutes to double Spurs’s lead, De Zerbi, in pristine white hi-tops, motored on to the pitch as if at the wheel on Mario Kart, Marcello Quinto, one of the coaches who the Italian brought with him upon his appointment last month, not far behind him.

And that concludes our live coverage of Aston Villa ‘B’ v Tottenham. Thanks for reading and see you next time.

“Spurs are fully De Zerbing of the three points today,” writes Peter Oh.

Chelsea v Nottingham Forest (3pm) and Everton v Manchester City (8pm) are tomorrow’s matches in his majesty’s Premier League. Here’s the table:

Conor Gallagher has a chat with TNT Sports: “Fantastic performance. Exactly what we needed. Everything we worked on in the week, leading up to the game, we showed tonight. We are really happy with the three points.

“It’s been a perfect night. Hopefully it’s only the start. We want to carry it on for the last few games of the season. This is massive for us. Hopefully our confidence can keep growing …

“It’s a good goal. I’m really happy … hopefully a few more can come now. I saw it come out … I took the chance to take the touch forward, then the space opened up. It was a nice goal.”

Thoughts on Roberto de Zerbi, who took over just over a month ago?

“I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s been so good. Every player has taken to him, everyone trusts him, he makes you feel good, confident … he’s bringing the best out of players, and it’s only the start. Hopefully we can keep learning from him, and hopefully we can build a great team.

“The fans have had a tough time this season, along with us … we’re really happy to give them this feeling tonight, hopefully it can be the start of something great.”

De Zerbi is among his players on the pitch. Handshakes and hugs all round.

“They worked so hard to win the ball back,” says Hoddle. “That will give them a hell of a lot of confidence, to go into a home game against Leeds. It’s good to see the Spurs fans enjoying an away day for a change.”

It’s over! Spurs are out of the bottom three. Survival is in their hands. Their energy and intensity was excellent this evening. Both the players and the fans.

Fantastic header by Buendia from a curling cross by Cash! They couldn’t, could they? Time should be up …

90 min+4: It’s been an excellent collective effort by Spurs. If anything, they’ll be disappointed they haven’t scored more. The fans are continuing to love life and singing lustily.

This is a third straight defeat for Villa without scoring. How will their confidence be for Forest on Thursday in the Europa League semi-final second leg? There’ll be plenty of changes needless to say.

90 min +3: Spurs are nearly there (for tonight, anyway) …

90 min: Five minutes minimum added. Gallagher gets player of the match. It appears Richarlison has picked up a knock. He’s hobbling off, with Pape Matar Sarr on for him. Lucas Bergvall on for Mathys Tel.

89 min: As if by magic, here is Villa’s best chance of the night. It falls to Mings from a corner, but he fluffs it at the near post, mostly getting his shoulder on the ball rather than head, and sending it over the crossbar. It was an excellent ball in by Leon Bailey from the corner.

88 min: Aston Villa have posed almost zero goal threat. Very very close to zero. Three off-target attempts are on the ledger now. Since Emery arrived they’ve never had a match with no attempt on target.

87 min: “If you ask any Spurs fan Gallagher has not been much cop since being bought,” emails John. “And there are reasons why Simeone thought he was not required for the Athletic Champions League challenge.”

Yeah, but he’s been good tonight. And tonight’s all we’ve got.

85 min: Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey are on for Villa. Barkley and Sancho off.

84 min: Tottenham fans are praying they can keep this two-goal lead, thus avoiding making the final five or so minutes plus stoppages terribly fraught …

84 min: Danso meets the corner with a thumping header but it’s straight at Martinez. Villa are about to make changes.

82 min: Tottenham attack after a long-ish spell on the back foot. They win a corner. Three-nil would be comfortable …

80 min: Tielemans to Watkins in an advanced, central area. Danso, who has been immense for Spurs, is booked for a muscular challenge on the England striker. So another handy set-piece for Villa …

79 min: Now Palinha coughs up a foul near halfway. Tielemans to take the free-kick. Can Villa find a goal? No. Mings fouls Udogie. The home crowd wails, partly at the ref, mostly at their own team. Villa fans are streaming out.

77 min: Rogers wants a corner, rightly, off Porro. The referee gives a goal kick. Rogers ain’t happy!

This is fizzling out a bit at the moment. Villa have more people warming up. But Tottenham are in full control, thanks largely to their relentless energy in defence.

75 min: Porro is the latest Spurs player to show plenty of desire in defence. The away fans continue to lap this up. “Oh when the Spurs go marching in …”

73 min: Kinsky hasn’t had a save to make. Villa have had three shots, all blocked.

Now Maatsen sends a good curling ball in from the Villa left. It’s a corner.

72 min: Spence sprints down the Spurs right. He cuts in, links with Gallagher, and then clips a shot just wide of the near post. Oh, the offside flag goes up anyway.

70 min: Watkins has a shot charged down. Then Sancho links with Tielemans, who bends a cross to the back stick, looking for Watkins. The England forward offers his colleague a classic striker’s thumbs-up.

69 min: Not a huge amount happening. Spurs are happy with the two-goal cushion. The fans are singing. Emery looks perplexed. Is this done? It looks done. That said, this is football, and we could yet be in for more drama.

65 min: Bentancur has gone down injured. He’s going off. Changes for Spurs: Yves Bissouma is coming on for Bentancur, and Djed Spence is coming on for Kolo Muani.

Kolo Muani, having left the pitch, goes to the Spurs fans – and it’s cheering and high-fives all round. The fans are loving it. The Frenchman gees them up a little more, raising his hands and passionately shouting his encouragement. Perhaps they can be happy after all!

63 min: Rogers has a another crack from distance. Again it’s blocked, I think by Palinha once more.

62 min: Barkley gets it near the edge of the box. A brilliant tackle by Palinha ends the danger for Spurs. Before that, there was an excellent tackle by Gallagher.

Palinha celebrated that tackle like he’d scored a goal. The passion and desire is there, it would seem. De Zerbi for PM!

61 min: Morgan Rogers has a shot, deflected out for a corner. That was Villa’s first attempt on goal! Spurs have had nine.

60 min: Villa’s Emery is pictured by the dugout, looking far from gruntled.

59 min: Re: Gallagher, it seemed odd to me a while back that Tudor wasn’t picking him. His work-rate off the ball has made a massive difference tonight, not to mention his goal.

And here is Watkins, off the bench for Villa.