Tottenham 1 Aston Villa 2
Ange Postecoglou started his Tottenham career with three manager of the month awards. Now, as they welcomed Aston Villa to North London, he was trying to prevent three defeats on the spin. Against Unai Emery’s in-form team, this was going to be a test of their credentials.
Tottenham started on the front foot and as Kulusevski capitalised on some sleepy defending, he got the ball onto his favoured left foot and shot, only to see his effort come thundering back off the post. Aston Villa scrambled and managed to prevent the rebound from going in.
The Spurs’ players felt Bryan Gil was elbowed in the face in the melee afterwards but as the replay shows, the Villa defender was just trying to get in front of him. The man who looks like an extra from the photoshoot for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album made a bit of a meal of it.
Aston Villa went straight up the other end and a Digne free kick found Pau Torres in the box with a free header but the defender headed it narrowly wide of the far post. This game was end to end stuff from the off.
Credit: @SpursOfficial
As a Spurs’ corner was half-cleared, it broke to Lo Celso on the edge of the box. He struck for goal, getting a big deflection off Diego Carlos, wrong-footing Martinez in the Villa goal. Not that Tottenham were complaining as they took the lead in the game.
Lucas Digne’s deliveries were causing all sorts of problems and one such cross found Ollie Watkins in the box who headed home. The celebrations did not last long as VAR came to the rescue to the hosts as the England striker had just strayed offside.
Hojbjerg then found Son in space and he made a beeline towards goal before a sublime finish past Martinez in the visitor’s goal. The stadium erupted as it nestled in the back of the net but the flag went up for offside and VAR agreed with the decision.
Just before the break, Douglas Luiz swung a free kick into the box which Pau Torres headed past Vicario to silence the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was a real sucker punch for Ange Postecoglou’s side who felt they should have been ahead by more.
The goal gave the visitors confidence and they started the second half in positive mood, with Leon Bailey striding forward. He cut inside onto his left foot and shot from outside the box, with Vicario spilling the effort, only to see it come back to him off the post.
Tottenham looked like statues as Tielemans and Watkins exchanged passes on the edge of the box before the striker drilled his effort into the bottom corner. It all looked too easy for the visitors as they turned the match on its head.
Credit: @AVFCOfficial
Postecoglou’s team came forward, looking for an equaliser, when Porro’s effort deflected towards the bottom corner. Martinez did brilliantly as he dived full-stretch to turn the effort around the post. The Villa keeper seemed up for this game that is for sure.
From the resulting corner, Ben Davies had a free header from two yards out. If you practised this a hundred times, it would be more difficult to head it over than in but the Welsh international proved us all wrong with his effort.
Lucas Digne took a free kick from outside the box, looking to bend one in the top corner. Fortunately for Spurs, Vicario was equal to it as he turned it around the post for a corner. Digne took the corner and found Watkins unmarked but he did not get enough on the header as it went wide of the post.
Son then played the ball into the path of Brennan Johnson, who must have thought he had scored, only to see the outstretched hand of Martinez deny him. Hojbjerg then tried to bend an effort into the top corner but the Aston Villa keeper made another fantastic save to deny him.
This game was high-octane stuff at this point and as Villa countered, Kamara shot from range and Vicario got down well to deny him. McGinn was first to react, standing a cross up to the back post but somehow Watkins’ header dropped the wrong side of the post.
Kulusevski then cut the ball back from the byline, Johnson laid it off to Porro who struck a thunderous effort which came back off the post. Son reacted quickly to bury the rebound, only to see the assistant’s flag go up for offside. VAR reviewed it and agreed once again.
It was a huge win for Aston Villa on the road which saw them move into the top four, showing just how good of a run Unai Emery has his side on. For Tottenham, it seems the wheels have come off the bus since that Chelsea game.
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