Tottenham Hotspur continue to find ingenious and depressing ways to reach new lows at the moment, with their Premier League loss to Aston Villa yesterday just a culmination of a truly miserable season thus far.

Although only caretaker boss, Ryan Mason will likely be welcoming the end of this campaign, in which European football seems to have all but slipped away.

That loss at Villa Park, in which the game finished 2-1, surrendered the three-point gap that separated these two sides, meaning that Unai Emery's men are only behind the Lilywhites on goal difference. Given the respective form of the two teams, it is not hard to guess who is the more likely to finish in the top seven.

Amidst a tough atmosphere in the Midlands, many of the spineless and weak-minded visitors crumbled under the pressure, either failing to show up completely, or disappointing in their attempt to influence the game.

It can be debated which is worse, but few cut a more frustrated figure than Richarlison, who somehow managed to dip his toes into both categories.

Although the weight of his £60m price tag is simply not his fault, it remains a huge point of contention as the Brazilian continues to fail in the pursuit of any kind of form for his new club.

How did Richarlison play vs Aston Villa?

To perfectly summarise the anonymity of the £90k-per-week forward, his nine touches all game were comfortably surpassed even by his goalkeeper Fraser Forster, with 28.

Such a lack of involvement made it almost impossible to impact the game, as this would lead to the completion of just four passes, having no shots at all and being unsuccessful in both of his attempted dribbles, via Sofascore.

To make things even worse, across his 62 minutes on the pitch, the usually-workmanlike striker did not manage a single tackle, clearance or interception, and was instead dribbled past once, losing all of the four duels competed in.

The 6.1 rating administered was justifiably the lowest of any starter for both teams.

Offensively toothless and defensively abysmal, Mason must have been incensed watching this bumbling forward amble about the pitch. Patience is understandably wearing thin with Richarlison now, who is running out of excuses to hide his consistently abhorrent form.

richarlison-emi-buendia-tottenham

Just one league goal all season is laughable, as it seems that in the move from Everton, he left something key behind on Merseyside.

He was previously a tireless warrior willing to battle for the right to score, yet it seems like the dreadful mindset in the north London dressing room has already infected him, turning the wily asset into yet another characterless flop. Yesterday was just the latest in a long line of poor showings, which has proven costly in their race for Champions League football.