May 6 2012
Ten-man Tottenham's hopes of securing an automatic Champions League spot were dented by struggling Aston Villa who edged closer to survival with a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
Ciaran Clark gave Villa a half-time lead and the visitors had defender Danny Rose sent off early in the second half for a challenge on ex-Spurs player Alan Hutton.
Emmanuel Adebayor levelled from the penalty spot for Harry Redknapp's side but they are now a point behind third-placed Arsenal going into the final weekend of the campaign.
Tottenham were dominating possession early on and Gareth Bale headed wide at the far post after good play by Rafael van der Vaart and Aaron Lennon, but after 35 minutes a deflected shot from Clark gave Villa the lead against the run of play.
The Republic of Ireland midfielder was 30 yards out and his shot hit the shoulder of William Gallas and flew past the stranded Brad Friedel into the net.
After 49 minutes Spurs were reduced to 10 men when left-back Rose was given a straight red card for a lunge at Hutton right in front of the dug-out.
Redknapp was incensed by the decision and there was also words exchanged between Villa boss Alex McLeish and Spurs coach Joe Jordan.
But Spurs still looked the more dangerous and after an hour Adebayor brought them level from the penalty spot.
Richard Dunne was adjudged to have brought down Sandro and was yellow-carded before Adebayor sent Shay Given the wrong way from the spot for his 17th goal of the campaign.