Aston Villa move into the top four as Tottenham’s slump continues
Ollie Watkins celebrates scoring Aston Villa’s winner at Tottenham (John Walton/PA)
Ollie Watkins fired Aston Villa into the Premier League’s top four with the winner at Tottenham to inflict a third consecutive defeat on the hosts.
Unai Emery’s side came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory and leapfrog Spurs after a thrilling end-to-end contest, with Pau Torres scoring a first-half header and Watkins scoring a second after 61 minutes.
Giovani Lo Celso had drilled Tottenham in front after 22 minutes with Ange Postecoglou’s selection gamble paying dividends at this point, but the hosts’ profligacy in front of goal cost them and Villa secured an eighth win from their last 10 matches.
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Hours before the match it was revealed former Spurs player and manager Terry Venables had died and a minute’s applause occurred before kick-off in his memory.
Postecoglou’s team selection could have been out of Venables’ playbook, with the Australian going even more attacking than usual despite 11 first-team players being out, with Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg dropped.
Rodrigo Bentancur, Lo Celso and Bryan Gil all earned first league starts of the season and it could have been 2-2 after five minutes.
First, Villa captain John McGinn’s cutback was too powerful for the unmarked Matty Cash during the opening 60 seconds, then, down the other end, Destiny Udogie was sent clear but he sliced over with his weaker right foot.
Dejan Kulusevski struck a post immediately after from Son Heung-min’s clever through ball and Brennan Johnson’s follow-up
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