Tottenham Hotspur’s hosting woes continue in the Premier League, as Spurs are now winless in three-straight home matches following a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa on Sunday.
MORE — Thomas Frank post-match reaction
Rodrigo Bentancur put Spurs ahead in the fifth minute but that was the only time they’d defy Emiliano Martinez, as Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia brought Villa back for all three points.
Buendia’s goal was marvelous, a fine finish after Matty Cash’s long-distance, side-volleyed arrow of a pass and Lucas Digne’s pair of magic touches to set up the scorer.
WATCH — Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa full match replay
Villa move into 10th place with 12 points, behind Brighton on goal differential, while Spurs sink behind fifth-place Chelsea on the same tiebreaker.
Unai Emery’s Villans have now won five-consecutive matches across all competitions since drawing Sunderland on September 21, including wins at Feyenoord and Spurs. And there should be better to come, as Ollie Watkins only has one of the 10 goals produced by Villa in those victories.
Spurs captain Cristian Romero was removed from the lineup after discomfort during warm-ups. Kevin Danso started in his place.
Spurs plagued by finishing (again)
It wasn’t too long ago that Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, and for a short time Dele Alli were rampaging up the Premier League goalscoring leaderboards. Now Spurs have an injured veteran hitman (Dominic Solanke), an inconsistent force (Richarlison), and two former hot prospects fighting form and/or fitness (Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani). It’s not great, and it’s one of the reason Spurs aren’t among the cream of the crop right now. No, they haven’t kept a clean sheet in four Premier League matches but both of Villa’s goals on Sunday were xG-defying wonder-hits from outside the 18. Spurs’ last five PL goals have come over four games and they’ve come from Richarlison, a Brighton own goal, Joao Palhinha, Tel, and Bentancur. Throw in the Champions League draw at Bodo/Glimt and it’s Palhinha again and another own goal. That means it’s three for defensive midfielders and two each for Spurs’ forwards and the other team putting the ball in their own goal. FotMob credits Spurs with all four of the game’s “big chances.” They lost the game. Some of that’s bad luck, but Frank will want his forwards to make their own, and soon.
What’s next?
Spurs head to Monaco on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League, then visit Everton at 12:30pm ET Sunday in the Premier League.
Villa are off to Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles for a Thursday tie in the Europa League, then host Manchester City at 10am Sunday for a PL match.
How to watch Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 9 am ET, Sunday
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — London
TV Channel: USA
Streaming: Watch live on NBC.com
Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa final score: 1-2
Rodrigo Bentancur 5', Morgan Rogers 37', Emiliano Buendia 77'
Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa updates — by Nick Mendola
Fulltime
Another win for Villa, another home loss for Spurs.
Spurs last gasp
Brennan Johnson and Pape Sarr are 86th-minute subs for Bentancur and Djed Spence.
More subs
Ross Barkley takes the place of Amadou Onana and Ian Maatsen is on for Lucas Digne in the 82nd minute.
Lucas Bergvall and Randal Kolo Muani came into the game for Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert just after the second Villa goal.
Emiliano Buendia goal — Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Aston Villa
Ooh. This may be better than Rogers’ exceptional goal.
Matty Cash side-volleys and almost no-look 60-yard diagonal ball, and Lucas Digne takes it down with a classy touch.
It’s quickly onto the path of Buendia, who hits a seeing-eye laser through traffic and inside the far post.
Incredible stuff from three Villa players. All things considered, it has to be up for goal of the season far, or at least team goal of the season.
Spurs ascendant but Villa corner
Spurs had been ascendant but Villa have enjoyed a bit of the ball around the 76th minute, and they are taking their time with a corner kick to further recover from a 12-15 minute rough spell.
Subs
Thomas Frank removes Tel and brings on Spurs veteran Richarlison.
Unai Emery takes off Guessand, who had flashed today, and Malen, who had not. Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendia enter the game.
1-1 into the final half hour at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs producing danger
Emiliano Martinez has made a big save and it’s his box under threat as Tottenham Hotspur bid to retake the lead.
Still 1-1, 58'.
Lucas Digne injury
The Frenchman was barreled over by Kevin Danso in a coming-together of no ill intent, and he has been getting plenty of treatment near the end line.
It’s been a long delay, and Spurs fans are booing Digne as he hobbles off the pitch. He’s now jogging well to midfield and will re-enter the game, much to the charging of the North London faithful.
Halftime — Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Aston Villa
Rogers’ goal was xG defiant and Bentancur’s one of corner kick guts, as the huge chances have not been many.
In fact, the combined xG was 0.30 heading into stoppage time, and there have been just three shot attempts per team.
Ollie Watkins, Richarlison, Jadon Sancho, Randal Kolo Muani, Harvey Elliott, and Brennan Johnson are among the subs on either bench, and both teams have midweek European trips so changes should be coming soon.
Oh Spurs should be back in front!
Spurs win a free kick deep in the Villa third, and stack their players along the top of the 18.
Pedro Porro shocks the crowd by playing it short, and the ball is quickly switched to the right where Kudus — who has been fantastic going forward — sends an arrow of a cross around the line of players to the back post.
A leaping Mathys Tel has work to do to sweep the ball home but he misses it entirely. It wasn’t a simple finish but it’s one you want your expensive center forward to bury in the back of the net.
1-1, 43'.
Morgan Rogers goal video
Morgan Rogers goal! Spurs 1-1 Villa
Evann Guessand starts a play on the right and it goes central to Morgan Rogers, who rescues his first touch off the boot of Xavi Simons and curls a spectacular ball home from outside the 18.
Rodrigo Bentancur goal video
Rodrigo Bentancur goal — Spurs 1-0 Aston Villa
What a start!
Spurs win an early corner and Villa partially clear it.
It’s quickly back on the left side, where Mohammed Kudus sweeps a cross over the field to last man on the left Joao Palhinha.
The Portuguese thuds a header back into the mix and Rodrigo Bentancur cleans it up with a focused finish.
Spurs again have the ball in the goal within two minutes via Kudus, but he was offside.
Spurs lineup
Vicario, Spence, Van de Ven, Romero, Porro, Palhinha, Bentancur, Kudus, Simons, Odobert, Tel
Aston Villa lineup
Martinez, Cash, Torres, Konsa, Digne, Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Guessand, Rogers, Malen
Tottenham Hotspur team news, focus
OUT: Dominic Solanke (ankle), Yves Bissouma (undisclosed), James Maddison (torn ACL - MORE), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Radu Dragusin (knee), Kota Takai (foot) | QUESTIONABLE: Randal Kolo Muani (thigh)
Aston Villa team news, focus
OUT: Tyrone Mings (foot) | QUESTIONABLE: Youri Tielemans (lower leg), Emiliano Buendia (head), Andres Garcia (undisclosed)
Spurs vs Aston Villa preview — by Andy Edwards
Spurs (3rd, 14 points) lost 22 games (and won just 11) in the PL last season en route to winning the Europa League under Ange Postecoglou, and the turnaround under new manager Thomas Frank has been sharp — from 11W-5D-22L, to 4W-2D-1L; from 1.71 goals conceded per game, to 0.71; from 1.68 scored, to 1.86. There is virtually no metric by which Frank hasn’t improved Spurs just two full months into the campaign, and still they are some way off of playing to their full potential. Despite settling for back-to-back draws with Brighton and Wolves last month, Frank’s side proved its resilience by fighting back from 2-0 and 1-0 down, respectively, stealing a valuable point from games that would have snowballed and wound up lopsided last year.
Aston Villa (13th, 9 points), meanwhile, are just getting going after a difficult first few weeks to start their season. Unai Emery’s side took just one of nine possible points from the month of August, but stabilized itself with an unbeaten September and now they return from the international break following wins against Fulham and Burnley, needing to prove they can do it against someone from the top half of the table.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa prediction
Both sides are going to struggle to create scoring chances from open play, but Spurs have been brilliant on set pieces and have far superior depth up top. Eventually, something has to give. Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Aston Villa.
