Unai Emery is not the first to suffer an Amsterdam hangover, but it could persist for the Aston Villa manager.
He altered the team’s shape and watched them self-destruct within a quarter of an hour and Tottenham silenced Villa Park’s murmur of anticipation.
Victory would have left Emery’s side eight points ahead of the visitors, strengthening their position in the top four, but hopes were dashed with a painful 15 minutes at the start of the second half.
James Maddison put Spurs ahead and Brennan Johnson made it 2-0 in three minutes, punishing a defensive mix-up between Ezri Konsa and Youri Tielemans.
Then Villa captain John McGinn lost his head and left his team-mates down to 10 men, sent off for a savage attack on Destiny Udogie.
Heung-min Son scored the third as the clock ticked into injury time and set up substitute Timo Werner’s fourth.
Villa remains fourth, but Tottenham moved to within two points and has a game in hand.
Although Ange Postecoglou’s celebrations were marred by another injury to key defender Micky van de Ven, who appeared to suffer another hamstring strain early in the second half.
Unlike Villa, who drew 0-0 at Ajax in the Europa Conference on Thursday, Tottenham enjoyed a clear week to prepare but, as usual, were a little slow and off-key during the first half.
The locals were not completely fluid either, but they were a little more skillful, and they created the best situations without creating anything resembling a clear chance.
Lucas Digne came closest to finding the net just before the break, heading in a McGinn cross from the left. He went wide of the far post.
Until then, it had been fast and frenetic but with few incidents.
Emery’s plan to return to a system with three centre-halves and full-backs combated Tottenham’s offensive threat, but they did not push forward with the same threat.
Watkins threatened early, overtaking Cristian Romero and accelerating towards the penalty area, but Van de Ven recovered and left Villa’s top scorer in a heap.
With Pedro Porro recovered from injury, Postecoglou was able to select his first-choice back four and opted for Johnson ahead of Werner on the left wing.
Johnson’s speed and mobility tested Matty Cash and Konsa on a slippery surface, but his delivery was inconsistent.
Yves Bissouma escaped with a mistake deep in defense and passed the ball straight to Watkins before Spurs moved on.
On another occasion, Watkins walked away and tried to find Leon Bailey instead of shooting. Again, Van de Ven intercepted again and the flag was raised to alleviate Villa’s embarrassment.
Spurs lost Van de Ven after he slid all the way to block a Bailey shot, unnecessarily because the flag was raised again for offside.
Radu Dragusin took his place and Van de Ven had not reached the tunnel when his team moved forward.
Dejan Kulusevski released Pape Matar Sarr on the right and Maddison arrived between two defenders to force him over the line from close range.
It wasn’t a typical Maddison goal, but it was crucial and Spurs quickly took advantage, with a second within three minutes. This time, Villa was punished for carelessness in possession.
Konsa delayed a pass to Tielemans and Kulusevski stepped in to steal the ball, found Son, who quickly passed it to Johnson, and scored his third goal in six games.
Emery made a triple change in a bid to get back into contention, flexing into a back four, but hopes of a counterattack were dashed with McGinn’s red card in the 65th minute.
The Scottish midfielder brought down Udogie and will now miss games against West Ham, Wolves and Manchester City.
It sparked a messy and often ill-tempered conclusion, in which Spurs extended their lead and increased the pressure on Aston Villa.
