'Sleepless nights' - Darren Bent singles out Aston Villa players after Tottenham defeat

Former Aston Villa striker Darren Bent has said Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins will have "sleepless nights" over the chances they missed against Tottenham on Saturday evening.

Both strikers missed their chances as Villa fell to a 4-0 defeat, which leaves the club 12th in the Premier League table and without a win in their last four games. Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, Bent praised Villa's first half performance and also spoke about the chances rued in the opening 45 minutes.

"Even some of their results against the top six have been good," Bent said. "The first half of today’s game, that’s where the positives will come for Villa. They created great chances and the likes of Watkins and Ings should be taking them. The fact is though, not taking these chances against the top sides is when you become unstuck.

"Danny Ings and Watkins will have sleepless nights tonight over those missed chances. At times, these things happen. When you’re on top as much as Villa were, you need to put your chances away to give you a foothold in the game."

Despite the scoreline Spurs did not have it all their own way and could have been out of the game at half-time had it not been for Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal. After Son Heung-min’s early opener, Villa were all over Tottenham and had 14 shots, with the Frenchman saving seven of them.

Tottenham’s deadly front three showed their killer instinct after the break as Son completed his treble and Dejan Kulusevski also bagged. Boss Steven Gerrard, whose side have now lost four games in a row, said the first-half performance was the best of his tenure.