Son hat-trick sinks Aston Villa as Tottenham tighten grip on fourth

It was difficult to distinguish between what made Tottenham Hotspur fans the happiest on the evening Son Heung-Min’s hat-trick enabled Antonio Conte’s side to capitalise on Arsenal’s second defeat in a week to move three points clear of their North London rivals in the contest for fourth place in the Premier League.

Manchester City and Liverpool may have other matters on their minds right now but they are the only teams to have accumulated more top-flight points than Spurs since Conte was appointed five months ago.

“Are you watching Arsenal?” inquired the travelling fans who can look ahead to their biggest derby on May 12 with increasing confidence after this sixth win in seven games, which followed their rivals’ home defeat by Brighton.

Remarkably Villa were the stronger side, after Son’s third-minute opener, before Dejan Kulusevski made it 2-0 in the sixth minute of the second half.. Steven Gerrard’s pre-match message that he would be re-evaluating the captaincy in the summer obviously did nothing to inspire Tyrone Mings and company who fell to a fourth successive defeat.

The ink was barely dry on Gerrard’s programme notes exhorting his side to “start turning 45-minute performances into 90-minute performances” when Villa went behind in the third minute.

This had nothing to do with Spurs’ exemplary record at Villa Park — they had won their previous six league visits here — and more to do with a simple long ball with which the home team failed to deal.

Eric Dier did not even put much angle on his lofted pass to the edge of the Villa penalty area but Ezri Konsa mistimed his jump so his header only fell to Harry Kane. The England captain’s misdirected shot hit rebounded off Matty Cash straight to Son who sweetly