BirminghamLive brings you the talking points from Aston Villa’s 4-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Aston Villa shipped four goals in a half of a Premier League match for the first time since January 2020 on Sunday afternoon as Tottenham came from behind to inflict a heavy defeat on Unai Emery’s side.
Morgan Rogers’ goal put Villa in the lead in the 32nd minute, but Spurs came out for the second half a totally different proposition and eventually overwhelmed their visitors.
Brennan Johnson equalised shortly after the restart, converting Son Heung-min’s pinpoint cross, before Dominic Solanke scored a brace in four minutes to take the game away from Villa before the 80th minute.
As 10 minutes were added on at the end of the second half, there was enough time for James Maddison to score from a free-kick. It was an afternoon to forget for Villa, who have now conceded eight goals in their last two meetings against Ange Postecoglou’s side.
It was against Manchester City nearly four years ago when Villa conceded four goals in the first half of their 6-1 defeat at Villa Park. Since then, the club has made enormous progress and the days of not being able to compete with the ‘big six’ are far behind them.
On Sunday, Villa performed well in the first half and were in front by one goal, but it could’ve been more after Ollie Watkins passed up on the chance to double his side’s tally after being fed through by Rogers. Down the other end, Emi Martinez was hardly worked as Villa nullified the hosts.
Villa weren’t playing free-flowing football, but up until half-time it was a textbook away performance against a Spurs side who finished two points behind them in the league last term. Indeed, after winning at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the last two seasons, Villa were looking to claim a third consecutive victory away at Spurs for the first time in 100 years.
But they were unable to build on what was a positive first half after conceding early on. Matty Cash was forced off with a calf injury on the hour mark, which didn’t help Villa’s cause as Ezri Konsa then shuffled across to right-back and Diego Carlos came on. They were two alterations which were forced on Emery.
