Jermain Defoe scored twice as Tottenham brushed aside Aston Villa with a convincing victory in the third round of the League Cup.

The England striker scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season — all in cup competitions — with Paulinho and substitute Nacer Chadli also netting for the Lilywhites.

Villa had a penalty shout waved away by referee Jon Moss early in the second half when Nicklas Helenius was impeded by Jan Vertonghen.

But the four-time winners of the League Cup progressed to the fourth round, much to the delight of manager Andre Villas-Boas who had recently bemoaned the scheduling of the game — their third in six days.

And having rested eight of the starting XI that won away at Cardiff on Sunday, with only Vertonghen, Kyle Walker and Paulinho retaining their places, the Portuguese manager was pleased his side came through the game unscathed.

He said: "It was a great performance. Even so, we were always at risk with those three players that were involved in the game against Cardiff.

"For example, in the first half Walker could have twisted his ankle. He feels a little bit of pain, but went through the game OK. So these were the reasons I complained.  

"Because we have that strength and depth we used only three players that were involved against Cardiff and we had a great team out there.

"But I think most of all we had a great team spirit and great motivation."

The Villans defended well in the first half with the impressive Jed Steer pulling off a number of great saves to keep his side in the game.

However the home side struggled to really test Brad Friedel in the Spurs goal. Their best chance of the half came after 15 minutes when Marc Albrighton's shot was well parried by the former Villa keeper.

But the deadlock was broken just before the break when Lewis Holtby's beautifully chipped ball into the box was headed home by Defoe.

The home side made a double change at half time with Helenius and Jordan Bowery replacing Karim El Ahmadi and Libor Kozak.

And it seemed like Helenius had made an instant impact when he latched on to good pass inside the Spurs penalty area.

But just as the Dane was about to get his shot away Vertonghen tussled with the striker and pulled down his shorts.

However much to the disbelief of Villa manager Paul Lambert, referee Moss turned down the penalty appeals.

"We were still in the game at 1-0," said Lambert. "I thought the big moment was the penalty. I don't think anybody could believe it wasn't a pull back.

"It's the first time I've seen anything like that happen."

Moments later the away side doubled their lead when Paulinho tucked the ball away from a Holtby corner for his second goal in as many games following his winner against Cardiff at the weekend.

Aleksandar Tonev had Villa's best chance of the second half forcing Friedel into a save with a thunderous shot from 25 yards.

But the result was wrapped up for the visitors when Chadli drilled the ball past Steer. Defoe then rounded the keeper for his second of the night.