Andre Villas-Boas hails "important" win for Tottenham Hotspur over Aston Villa

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has hailed the commitment of his players to earn an "important" win over Aston Villa.

Spurs overcame a dogged Villa defence thanks to goals from Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon, and held on to keep a clean sheet and in turn earn a 2-0 victory.

Villas-Boas told the club's official website that he is pleased with side's performance as they remained patient to break Villa down.

He said: "Extremely happy in both first and second half. There was immense dedication from the players and we have an important win.

"It was a very difficult game but we were superior. We knew scoring first would make the difference. We had a lot of chances.

"Overall a great performance. We told the players at half-time to persist with the intensity and we would come good."

A fourth successive league win for Spurs improves their record with 14 points from 7 matches in the Premier League and takes them to fifth in the table.