Tottenham Women beat Aston Villa 4-0 on Sunday, with Victoria Pelova scoring twice to move Spurs up to second in the Women’s Super League and stretch their unbeaten run in the competition to a club-record seven matches, a streak dating back to last March.
Three wins from their opening four league matches now has this side sitting comfortably behind Manchester City, and after the goalless, frustrating stretches that have periodically undermined Spurs in recent seasons, this is the kind of result that at least earns the benefit of the doubt. Whether it lasts is another matter entirely, but you’re allowed to enjoy it while it does, much as anyone who sat through the draw against Liverpool earlier in the campaign will tell you not to get carried away.
Villa couldn’t live with the shot count
Tottenham piled on 35 shots at the Hive, but the first half was a case study in wastefulness against a stubborn Villa back line. Caitlin Dijkstra had a close-range effort hacked off the line by Lynn Wilms in the 17th minute, and Spurs were reduced to speculative efforts from distance as Villa’s defending held firm.
The second half told a different story. Pelova opened the scoring in the 54th minute, tapping in Signe Gaupset’s low cross, then doubled her tally after Drew Spence picked her out in space, her left-footed effort dipping in off the bar. Dijkstra headed in Julie Blakstad’s cross for the third, and Cathinka Tandberg wrapped it up in the 88th minute after Akane Okuma could only parry Matilda Vinberg’s long-range strike.
Villa remain winless after four games, with two draws and two defeats leaving them down in 13th. That’s a run of form Spurs fans will recognise from their own club’s darker recent history, though for once it’s someone else living it.
Pelova’s numbers stack up
Four goals in her last two starts is the sort of return that gets noticed, and the primary match report has Pelova level with Manchester City’s Bunny Shaw at the top of the WSL’s golden boot standings. She was also rated the standout performer of the afternoon among BBC Sport’s user-submitted match ratings, finishing with a 9.10 average – for whatever that particular metric is worth, it’s not nothing after a display like this one.
This follows on from Spurs putting seven second-half goals past Crystal Palace the previous weekend, a habit of slow starts and ruthless finishes that’s becoming something of a pattern under this developing squad. Whether that trend survives contact with sterner opposition remains to be tested, but for now, second in the table is second in the table.
