Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of regaining their place in the Premier League’s top four were scuppered as they suffered a demoralising 2-0 home defeat against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Antonio Conte’s lacklustre side were devoid of inspiration throughout the contest and were punished after the break by goals from Emiliano Buendia and Douglas Luiz.
Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia celebrates scoring against Tottenham Hotspur.Credit:AP
Tottenham’s French keeper Hugo Lloris, playing his first game since losing the World Cup final, was at fault for Buendia’s 50th-minute opener. And when Luiz added a second in the 73rd minute, home fans began streaming towards the exits.
Chants against Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy rang out as Villa sauntered to only a third win in their last 22 Premier League clashes with the Londoners.
Tottenham were booed off at the final whistle as defeat left them in fifth place with 30 points from 17 matches, two points behind Manchester United who have a game in hand and 13 behind local rivals and leaders Arsenal.
If any of the fans that braved transport problems to spend New Year’s Day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium needed some extra sleep, they had ample opportunity in a dreadful first half.
Tottenham were slow in possession and lacking any attacking spark while Villa were equally unadventurous.
Villa keeper Robin Olsen, who surprisingly kept his place ahead of Argentina hero Emiliano Martinez, was untroubled and three yellow cards in the space of 10 minutes for Tottenham, including one for returning World Cup winner Cristian Romero, was about the only talking point for the opening 37 minutes.
Tottenham finally created a chance when Ivan Perisic was played through on goal and forced wide by Olsen. Perisic managed to hoist a cross towards Harry Kane whose weak header was on target but cleared off the line by a diving Ashley Young.
At least Tottenham avoided trailing at halftime for a sixth match in a row, but they fell behind for the seventh successive Premier League game five minutes after the restart.
Lloris failed to gather a shot by Luiz and Ollie Watkins was alert to nip in and pick out Buendia who slotted his shot inside the post to the joy of the Villa fans.
Villa who looked more threatening all match and they doubled their advantage when captain John McGinn threaded a ball in to Luiz who flicked a neat finish past Lloris
A flurry of substitutions by Spurs manager Antonio Conte late in the game failed to redress the balance or pull back any goals for the home side.
The win gave Unai Emery his third win since taking over from Steven Gerrard as Villa boss – including two from two on the road.
Reuters
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