Mark Noble explained that training ground practice in breaking down a team defending for their lives truly paid off against Villa tonight.
The skipper said – after picking up the man of the match award: “It can be so hard against ten – harder than eleven. But we work on it in training and you have to find a way.
“We took nothing for granted this evening. We knew it was going to be a difficult game and it was very tough but in the end Michail (Antonio) (right) found the goal with his usual hard work.
“He has scored important goals but that one may have been more so than the others.
“With Leicester and Spurs going well we are a bit under the radar and that’s how we like it. We are not going to make any predictions but anything may be possible. You never know do you.
“At the beginning of the season we had a difficult European situation. We started well but people started worrying when we drew a few games.
“But that was a seriously important part of the season and we came through without losing and now we are kicking on again.
And we have the likes of Andy Carroll, Manu Lanzini and Diafra Sakho to come back – big players. It looks good and feels good.”