Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark was emphatically outmuscled by Mousa Dembele as the Belgian gave Tottenham the lead within two minutes of kick off on Monday night.
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With new Villa boss Remi Garde watching on from the stands at White Hart Lane, the visitors would have wanted to make a good impression as the Frenchman prepares to help the side escape relegation.
However, Clark will want to forget his start to the encounter as Dembele was simply too strong for him as he held the Villa defender off before producing a smart finish to beat Brad Guzan and break the deadlock.
Villa went into Monday night’s game knowing that a win would see them leapfrog Sunderland and move off the bottom of the Premier League table, but they couldn’t have had a worse start.
The club confirmed the news of Garde’s appointment just hours prior to kick off, as reported by the BBC, and the ex-Lyon manager has signed a three-and-a-half year deal with the Premier League side to replace former boss Tim Sherwood.
It will be seen as a risky appointment by many considering the fact that the French tactician has no previous managerial experience in the Premier League, although he did have a three-year stint as a player for Arsenal between 1996 and 1999.
Nevertheless, he arrives with a solid reputation after his work at Lyon, and he will hope to gain as much knowledge of his players as possible during the week ahead of his first game on the sidelines which will be at home to Manchester City on Sunday.
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