Tottenham managed to get into the fourth round of the Capital One Cup in style by beating Aston Villa 4-0 in the third round of the competition. Tottenham were going into the match with one eye on the weekend’s match against Chelsea. This was a much bigger match for Andre Villas-Boas and his men, but due to the incredible squad strength, they were able to secure a victory over Villa. Despite resting a number of players for this match, Villas-Boas was able to field internationals like Jermain Defoe on the field. Brazilian international Paulinho was also used as well.

Defoe has found game time limited in the season and he has so far participated only in the cup competitions. However, he did his best to stake a claim in the first-team by scoring two goals against a Villa team that had won during the weekend against Norwich. After the match, Villas-Boas praised his team by saying that they showed incredible quality to get past a very good Villa team. Now they will be waiting for the draw of the fourth round. Tottenham won this competition a few years ago, and they will be hoping to lift it this time around with Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas recalled that he started with three players who played against Cardiff during the weekend.

“It was a great performance and a great response from the team. We came here with three players who played that game (against Cardiff on Sunday), so it was a risk, but we have great strength in depth. We have great team spirit this year and all the players are buzzing for opportunities like this so I think most of them really, really performed out there. We have that strength in depth to be playing after just two days, so we use it,” said Villas-Boas.