We rate the players in the game between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspurs at Villa Park on Saturday.

By Abhishek Mehrotra

Aston Villa

Brad Friedel - 9

A supreme performance by the giant goalie. Stinging drives, crisp headers and sly chips were all thwarted by the Villa keeper.

Richard Dunne - 5.5

A good performance marred by his role in the Spurs' goal.

Carlos Jimenez Cuellar - 7

Solid at the back. Kept Villa in the game by clearing a Michael Dawson strike that was heading for the bottom corner.

Luke Young - 7.5

Managed to shackle the dangerous Aaron Lennon for most of the game.

Habib Beye - 6

Helped Young in tying down Lennon.

Nigel Reo-Coker (off 71') - 4

Not a great performance by the midfielder. Could not find the range on his passes throughout the match.

Stiliyan Petrov - 5

A few sharp runs aside, did not figure a lot in the game.

Ashley Young - 7.5

Full of energy through the 90 minutes. Harrassed the Spurs backline and deserved better returns for his efforts.

James Milner - 6

A solid performance but not really eye catching.

Gabriel Agbonlahor - 7.5

Bundled in Villa's goal. Threatened often but did not repeat his early exploits.

John Carew (off 76') -5

An unusually quiet day for the giant striker.

Substitutes

Steve Sidwell - 5

Unable to make much of an impact.

Emile Heskey - 6

Was a big improvement over Carew and looked dangerous for the entire time he was on.

Tottenham

Gomes - 6.5

Made some good saves, but was not as busy as his counterpart.

Sebastien Bassong - 4.5

Was partly to blame for Villa's goal but held his ground for the remainder of the match.

Michael Dawson - 8

Performed admirably at the back and scored Spurs' equaliser. A good day for the veteran.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto - 6

Had a good match. Could have caused more damage, but final delivery was often disappointing.

Vedran Corluka - 6

An improvement over his recent displays. Lapped his wingman and made frequent runs into Villa's third.

Wilson Palacios (off 66') - 4.5

Put in a clumsy display and never looked comfortable in midfield.

Tom Huddlestone - 6.5

The big man was in the mood today. Rarely allowed anyone to go past him and the Villa backline had to put in some great blocks to stop his piledrivers.

Niko Kranjcar (off 76') - 7.5

Had a great match and would have scored at least two goals had it not been for Friedel's heroics.

Aaron Lennon - 6

A return to normalcy after a marvellous performance in the previous match. Was bogged down by Young and rarely looked dangerous.

Peter Crouch - 5

Was not very involved in the game.

Jermain Defoe - 5

Another one who had a quiet game after the highs of the previous one. He did have a few chances, but his lucky boots seemed to have deserted him.

Substitutes

Jermaine Jenas - 6.5

Came on for Palacios and added to Spurs attacking prowess. Perhaps a longer outing will help him return to peak form.

Robbie Keane - n.a