While Arsenal and Manchester City may be drifting out of the title picture, Harry Kane's crucial intervention on Sunday ensured that Tottenham Hotspur keep the heat on leaders Leicester City.
Spurs' fixture against Aston Villa may have appeared something of mismatch, but it represented a test for Tottenham team coming through a tricky spell.
Mauricio Pochettino's side took just one point from London derbies against West Ham United and fierce rivals Arsenal, and were humbled in the Europa League in midweek when they were thoroughly outclassed by Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
Match Stats — Team Stats
Villa may be bottom of the pile, and destined for the second tier, but Tottenham will have taken little for granted, knowing that failure to win away could have had serious consequences for their title ambitions.
However, the 55-year wait for an English championship could yet be ended following Kane's two goals either side of half-time, for only Tottenham's third win in eight games.
Admittedly, Villa were so miserable on the day that the Lilywhites didn't need to be at their best to bury Remi Garde's.
With Kane on song, and with Dele Alli at his sumptuous best, finer sides than Villa will struggle to hang with Spurs. The England international's double-salvo was enough the contest against a wretched defence, but the nature and the quality of his efforts were breathtaking and deserve commendation.
His first came just before half-time, when Ali's freekick evaded the Villa defence—notably Alan Hutton and Jores Okore—and Kane controlled the ball with a touch and slammed it past Brad Guzan.
Player Stats — Harry Kane
General
Any hopes of a Villa revival were ended soon after the break, following magnificent interplay between Kane, Alli, and playmaker Erik Lamela Eric lamellar.
The teenage midfield general was picked out by delightful pass, and then duly crossed to Kane, whose movement took him beyond Aly Cissokho, setting him up for easy finish from close range.
Few teams could come back from that, but beleaguered Villa were certainly finished.
Leicester's victory over Newcastle United on Monday evening demonstrated just how imperative it was that Spurs returned to winning ways against Villa.
Even with that win, Tottenham remain five points behind Leicester, but failure to beat Villa would have left them in almost the same boat as rivals City and Arsenal.
Having lost three consecutive matches— to Leicester, Liverpool, Tottenham recently— City once again reaffirmed their class by putting Villa to the sword last weekend. However, familiar failings returned against Norwich on Saturday as, despite their wealth of firepower, Manuel Pellegrini's side were unable to breach Alex Neil's strugglers.
Having played a game less than Leicester, City find themselves a whopping 12 points behind the Foxes, and it would take an almighty stumble from Claudio Ranieri's side for the Sky Blues to pinch the title.
Arsenal are slightly better off on 52 points from 29 matches, but Arsene Wenger's side are brittle beast, as they demonstrated in the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Watford on Sunday, and do they really have enough about them to make up the 11 point gap to Leicester?
For Spurs, with nothing to play for in Europe, complete attention now turns to the league. It will take a slip from Leicester for Tottenham to take top spot, but in Harry Kane they have just the man to capitalise.
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