Tim Sherwood enjoyed a hard-fought victory on his return to White Hart Lane as they beat a lacklustre Tottenham Hotspur.

Christian Benteke powered home a header from a fine cross by Leandro Bacuna in the first half with Spurs toiling as they look on their end-of-season holidays.

Sherwood guided Spurs to sixth place last season whilst at the helm and received a muted reception as he waltzed out the tunnel before kick-off.

Pochettino made two changes to his side’s limp draw at Burnley last weekend with Townsend and Federico Fazio replacing Kyle Walker and Paulinho.

Spurs needed to take all three points with their Champions League dreams fading fast but they started the game the way they ended the Burnley match with no real intent.

Fazio’s headed effort from a corner was the closest the home side came in the first 25 minutes.

Brad Guzan then denied Danny Rose after Harry Kane won the ball back well and Christian Eriksen slipped in the full-back but he could not find a way past the American stopper.

When Villa hit the front it was deserved. A tantalising cross from Bacuna was met by the Belgian forward Benteke who placed his header off the post and into the net.

Sherwood chose not the celebrate the opener and continued sipping from his water bottle.

His team nearly had cause for second celebration after a Benteke flick on, Gabriel Agbonlahor skipped past Fazio but his shot rattled the foot of the post and came back into play.

The home side were met with boos upon the half time whistle by some fans, they were not without cause.

Andros Townsend’s in-swinging was agonisingly close to Kane as Spurs pilled on the pressure in the first ten minutes of the second phase.

A deflected Rose effort nearly founds its way into the net off of Ron Vlaar’s right boot moments later.

Kane, who was looking to become the first player since Gary Lineaker to score 30 goals in a season, then had his best chance of the afternoon curling a fine left footed effort just onto the roof of the net.

Spurs’ began to look more and more desperate with each attack that past and their tempo reflected a side that had played more games than any other this campaign.

Pochettino rolled the dice once more throwing on Erik Lamela and DeAndre Yedlin for his debut as they replaced Vlad Chiriches and Townsend.

Sherwood’s side could have sealed it in the final five minutes as Fabian Delph raced through one-on-one but Michel Vorm got down well to deny the Villains captain.

Carlos Sanchez was sent off for a second bookable offence as he took out Rose in the dying seconds.

The result means Spurs' Champions Leage dreams are surely over as they slipped to seventh in the table.

Spurs: Vorm, Chiriches, Fazio, Dier, Rose, Mason, Bentaleb, Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli (Soldado 61’), Kane

Subs: Friedel, Yedlin, Paulinho, Lamela, Stambouli, Davies

Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Vlaar, Clark (Baker 9’), Richardson, Cleverley, Sanchez, Delph, Agbonlahor (Cole 68’), Benteke, Grealish (Weimann 61’)

Subs: Given Baker, Okore, N’Zogbia, Lowton