Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Aston Villa: Visitors come from behind to win at Spurs

Tottenham and Aston Villa players hold a minute's applause in memory of Terry Venables — A minute’s applause was held before the match to pay tribute to former Tottenham player and manager Terry Venables

Aston Villa came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur on the day they remembered former player and manager Terry Venables.

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The ex-England manager’s death was announced less than two hours before kick-off, and a minute’s applause was held to pay tribute to a man who won the FA Cup with Spurs as a player in 1967 and as manager in 1991.

Giovani lo Celso’s deflected opener looked to have got the early season pacesetters back on track after their unbeaten start came to an end with back-to-back defeats before the international break.

But Pau Torres levelled with a header deep into first-half added time before Ollie Watkins slotted in his 12th goal of the season to seal Villa’s turnaround.

Spurs pushed for an equaliser but could not avoid a third straight defeat – and they have taken the lead in each one of those games.

Tottenham were top of the Premier League table after their first 10 games but are now below Villa after victory in north London sent Unai Emery’s team above them into fourth place.

Spurs made to pay for missed chances

Tottenham fans hold a minute's applause in memory of Terry Venables — Terry Venables’ image was displayed on the big screen inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Venables’ passing was announced as the first supporters arrived at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and there were images of him on television screens in the concourses and on the big screen inside the ground.

Spurs have won just two major honours since Venables led them to the FA Cup in 1991 but a positive start to Ange Postecoglou’s spell in charge has raised hopes of ending their 15-year trophy drought.

An innovative, attack-minded coach, Venables would no doubt have been impressed by Spurs’ enterprising play under Postecoglou and, despite losing their last two matches, that philosophy continued against Villa.

The Australian made four changes to his side, some of them enforced, and one of the players to come into the side opened the scoring after a lively start.

Lo Celso hit a fierce effort from the edge of the box from a Pedro Porro corner and its slight deflection off Diego Carlos wrong-footed Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

It was the Argentina midfielder’s first goal for Spurs since September 2021 – having since had two spells on loan at Villarreal – and only his second in the Premier League.

Destiny Udogie had earlier fired over while Dejan Kulusevski struck a post and Son Heung-min turned Brennan Johnson’s square ball over the bar.

After Lo Celso’s opener, Kulusevski curled a shot narrowly wide and Son had three goals disallowed for offside.

Then, as Spurs pressed forward late on, Ben Davies headed narrowly over and Brennan Johnson was denied by Martinez, but Postecoglou was still encouraged by his depleted side’s performance.

“I thought some of our football was as good as it’s been since I got here,” he said. “I’m disappointed we weren’t able to enjoy the rewards of what I think our efforts deserved.

“All you can ask for as a manager is that the guys who are out there play with the same intent, and as the team we want to be, and they did it all today.”

Villa make long-awaited return to top four

Ollie Watkins scores against Tottenham — Only Erling Haaland (18) has scored more goals across all competitions this season than Ollie Watkins (12)

Villa played their part in an entertaining opening, with Matty Cash and Torres both off target with efforts before Watkins had a goal disallowed for a tight offside moments after Lo Celso’s opener.

But the visitors equalised on the stroke of half-time as Torres met Douglas Luiz’s superb free-kick delivery on the run to power a header inside the near post.

Emery made two changes at half-time, with Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans coming on, and they each had a swift impact.

Bailey’s curling strike squirmed under Guglielmo Vicario’s dive, with the Tottenham keeper relieved to see the ball bounce back off the post.

But Villa were not to be denied and Watkins exchanged passes with Tielemans before sliding the ball past Vicario.

The in-form England striker almost added to his tally by glancing two headers narrowly wide.

However two goals proved enough to send Villa into the top four, at least 13 games into a season, for the first time since December 2009.

“They created chances, we did as well, and we tried to be consistent with our gameplan,” said Emery.

“We spoke about the opportunity to win. They were one point in front of us so to get the three points is important. It was tough and we did very good work.”

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