Morgan Rogers proved to be Aston Villa’s hero as he grabbed a goal and an assist to help his side dump Tottenham out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory at Villa Park.
The result saw more pressure pile on Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou, whose only chance of lifting a trophy this season will now have to come in the Europa League.
Villa made a lightning start to the contest and were ahead inside the opening minute when Rogers fed Jacob Ramsey, whose strike squirmed through Antonin Kinsky’s grasp.
Kinsky, however, atoned for his earlier error moments later to deny Villa a second, sprawling to his right to claw Leon Bailey’s curled effort away from danger.
But Spurs almost hauled themselves level against the run of play, but Son Heung-min saw his close-range attempt stopped by a brilliant save from Emiliano Martinez.
The encounter took on an end-to-end feel after the break, with Bailey again forcing Kinsky into another save with Ramsey firing the rebound against the post.
Villa, however, doubled their lead in the 64th minute when Donyell Malen’s cross was cleared off the line by Pedro Porro, only for Rogers to slam the ball home inside the box.
Mathys Tel, on his full Tottenham start, reduced the deficit in the first minute of second-half stoppage time after turning Dejan Kulusevski’s cross beyond Martinez.
But Tottenham were unable to find a winning goal, meaning they have now been eliminated from the FA Cup prior to the fifth round in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2014-15 (a run of three).
Data Debrief: Rogers the king of Villa Park
Rogers continues to impress in his breakthrough year with Aston Villa, with his strike against Tottenham taking him to 11 goals across all competitions this season.
The 22-year-old has now scored eight goals in his last eight appearances at Villa Park. Indeed, since the start of December, this is the most goals scored by a Premier League player at a specific venue across all competitions (one more than Cody Gakpo at Anfield, seven).
He also played a huge role in Ramsey’s early opener. The strike set Villa on their way after just 57 seconds, and was the quickest FA Cup goal by a Premier League side since Ilkay Gundogan’s strike in the 2023 final (12 seconds – for Manchester City versus Manchester United).
Villa have also now won both of their FA Cup matches in 2024-25 (2-1 v West Ham and 2-1 v Tottenham), as many victories as they managed in the competition in the previous nine seasons combined (W2 D2 L9 – between 2015-16 and 2023-24).
