Gerard Houllier Believes Tottenham Were Lucky In Their Victory Over Aston Villa

Gerard Houllier believes Tottenham were lucky to come away with three points after narrowly defeating his Aston Villa team on Saturday.

The Villa manager was pleased with his team's display but admitted he was disappointed with the eventual outcome. Villa had taken the lead against Spurs, but two Rafael van der Vaart goals gave the north London team a hard fought victory.

Houllier said: "A draw would have been a fair result, and I think they [Tottenham] were a bit lucky, but then at the moment they are a bit lucky.

"I have mixed feelings [about the match] because at the same time I am proud of our performance, and I’m disappointed with the result.

"I think that today, a fairer result would have been a draw. We could have perhaps sealed the game, but we didn’t take our chances.

"But don’t forget, it's [Tottenham’s] a good side, it’s a good team. They finished fourth [last season] they've reinforced the team and also on the back of their win against Twente they obviously have a lot of confidence."

The Frenchman took positives from the match however, and thought his team perfomed well against Spurs.

"At times we passed the ball extremely well, it’s just a shame we didn’t manage to get the draw," he said. "Maybe had we been ahead at half-time it would have been different, because always when a team equalise before half-time it's always frustrating, the confidence swaps and goes to the other side.

"The effort, the character, the players are really on the right track. The ball started from the back, to the midfield, we don't skip stations.

"Obviously sometimes when we have to clear we play long balls, but I think we played entertaining football, as they did [Tottenham], because it’s a team that plays well as well."

Although dismayed to see Emile Heskey limp off injured, Houllier is hopeful the striker can return to the side soon.

He said: "He couldn’t sprint, he couldn't run. He tried to stay on but it was too painful. It happened [the injury] when he scored the goal. I think he’ll be alright for the Chelsea game."