I have to say, as far as days go, today's been pretty good. First England cruise past the French at Twickenham, then - and far more importantly - Spurs leave Villa Park with an unlikely, but deserved, three points.
Aston Villa jetted to sunnier shores this week in a bid to refresh legs fatigued by a poor run of form which has seen the wheels look dangerously like falling off their bid to pip Arsenal to the final Champions League spot. In contrast Harry Redknapp took his players to Cheltenham, where they experienced a similarly poor run of form. Luck or no luck, it would have taken a brave man to bet Harry's side would emerge victorious from Villa Park this afternoon.
Despite what may have been spouted by self important so-called experts at the final whistle, this was not a complete smash 'n' grab result and to claim otherwise would belittle what was an impressive defensive performance (Ok, maybe not Didier Zokora). King and Woodgate were superb throughout, with the former in imperious form. It remains a complete tragedy that his shattered knee will never fully recover, because when fit, he's England's best defender.
King wasn't alone in producing the kind of display that commands a recall to the national side. Aaron Lennon continues to go from strength to strength, with his direct, darting runs providing both goals and scaring the living daylights out of anyone unfortunate enough to be tasked with stopping them. His sweetly struck half volley probably would have taken Brad Friedel's hand off had it been just a few inches lower.
For their part Villa were right to feel aggrieved when they went in at half time one-nil down. Apart from a few bright moments, they dominated the first 45, which were characterised by Didier Zokora's inability to deal with Ashley Young. Picked because he boasts more pace than Vedran Corluka, the Ivorian endured such a torrid time that he was taken off with ten minutes of the first period still to play, but not before showcasing an impressively unsubtle impression of El-Hadji Diouf on Young's waist.
Lucky then, that his replacement faired considerably better. As the game wore on Corluka's canniness and strength not only reduced Young to a veritable spectator, but the Croat even managed to make inroads further forward. This allowed Keane and Bent, who worked tirelessly, to cause the damage. It's only fair to point out that the maligned Bent was superb, particularly in the second half, intermingling some impressive hold up play with no small amount of running and hassling of Villa's rotating back four.
Add these ingredients together and you're cooking up a deserved, hard-fought victory. Yes we were lucky to go in ahead, but Redknapp asked for a lot more from his players and he will be delighted with the way they responded. We aren't home and dry yet but a couple more wins and he'll genuinely be more concerned with snatching seventh than avoiding the drop.
For Villa, it's looking painfully obvious that their small squad size is beginning to tell. They have the quality to turn it around and they are most certainly not out of the race for the Champions League, but O'Neill will have a tough job rebuilding his side's shattered confidence. He won't be helped either by the fickleness of the home support who need to have a long hard look at themselves for booing a side who are having their best season in years.
Harry will have no such problems. They could probably make it all the way home on the good vibrations echoing around the dressing room after such an important result. Next up is Chelsea at White Hart Lane, which is shaping up like being a cracker.
I just remembered the one sore point - Arsenal will probably get fourth now but, to be honest, who cares.