Spurs end losing streak with victory over Villans

Tottenham Hotspur 2

Aston Villa 1

Matt Targett’s second-half own-goal lifted the pressure on under-fire manager Nuno Espirito Santo as Tottenham Hotspur inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Harry Kane has now gone six games without scoring, whereas his Aston Villa counterpart and England rival Ollie Watkins finally got off the mark for the league season when he cancelled out Pierre Emile Hojbierg’s curled finish in the 67th minute.

Heung-Min Son has known better days in front of goal, but whenever he surged forward the Villa players looked like scared puppies as he looked unplayable with the ball at this feet. His end product was a different story though, as he racked up a handful of missed chances which he would have normally buried with his eyes closed.

And it was the incisive South Korean superstar who set up the winner when he cantered into the box and drilled the ball across goal, with his assist cannoning into the net off the unlucky Targett.

Tottenham have ended a run of three defeats on the bounce as they seem to be buying into Nuno Espirito and implementing his philosophy, despite reports that he has lost part of the dressing room already.

In the early stages of the game, Spurs were passing the ball aimlessly and were forced into mistakes when playing out from the back, as Villa’s relentless pressing had the desired impact.

After going through the motions in the first 15 minutes, there was suddenly more urgency in Tottenham’s passing and more energy in their play. And it didn’t take long for the north Londoners to get their noses in front.

Kane, who is yet to open his league account for the season, showed signs of life when he blasted a shot over the crossbar with Tottenham slowly clicking into gear.

A few minutes later, the Euro 2020 runner-up came close again when he tried to catch Emiliano Martinez out with a direct free-kick from about 50 yards, but the back-pedalling Argentine spectacularly clawed his shot away to deny him his first goal of the Premier League campaign.

Had that one come off from about 50 yards out, it would arguably have been a contender for goal of the month.

Yet, like so often in football, if you keep knocking on the door, it opens.

Just before the half-hour mark, the penetrative Son laid the ball off to Hojbjerg who, afforded space and time, curled a neat, low effort into the far corner from 18 yards out.

Deciding to go for placement rather than power at a crucial moment like that takes some speed of thought and decision-making, and the Danish international ticked both boxes to perfection.

On the stroke of half-time John McGinn saw a volley from distance flash just wide of the post after a Spurs defender had unceremoniously cleared into his path.

Villa were finally giving a good account of themselves in the final stages of the first period, but Dean Smith’s men were unable to unlock the opposition’s resolute defence.

That said, for all of Tottenham’s dominance in the first 45 minutes, Martinez didn’t have an awful lot to do except palming away Kane’s brave chip.

After the restart, Villa looked ominous, and Danny Ings was denied an overhead kick by a last-ditch interception from Eric Dier, before former Fulham player Targett saw his shot blocked after a Spurs defender had flicked a cross from the right flank inadvertently into his path.

The home side’s distances had suddenly become too big for Villa to exploit. But not for long, as they became more compact as the second-half wore on.

In the 52nd minute, Son put a ball into the box after charging down the left side, but none of his teammates attacked the far post. Then, seconds later he was brilliantly picked out by Emerson Royal, but the South Korean’s end product let him down yet again as he skied his unmarked volley over the bar.

On the hour-mark the former Bayer Leverkusen star latched on to a wonder through ball and held off Ezri Konsa’s challenge but fired straight at the onrushing Martinez from point-blank range.

In the 68th, Watkins restored parity for the Birmingham outfit when he buried the overlapping Targett’s pinpoint delivery after the anonymous Danny Ings had teed him up with a pass into space.

Watkins 1, Kane 0. But it was Kane’s Tottenham who went on to win the game in fortuitous yet merited fashion.

And it was Son again who did all the hard work when he feinted past Hause and squared the ball to Moura, but Targett undid his good work from three minutes earlier, scoring an own-goal and putting a smile back on the Tottenham supporters’ faces.

Spurs ‘keeper Hugo Lloris was called into action for the first time after 78 minutes when he dived to his left to save a poor shot from Ings.

Substitute Giovanni Lo Celso had two late chances to seal the win but couldn’t put them away. He first flashed a bending effort wide and then had an effort cleared off the line.

The icing on the cake for Tottenham would have been if Kane had scored, but the England captain fired straight at Martinez when through on goal two minutes before time. If he maintains his desire that goal is a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’.

Spurs played like a wounded animal after three consecutive league defeats, and deservedly won, outshooting and outpassing a Villa side that never had a prolonged spell of possession throughout the entire game.

Teams:

Spurs: 1 Hugo Lloris- 3 Sergio Reguilon- 4 Cristian Romero- 5 Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg- 7 Heung-Min Son- 10 Harry Kane-12 Emerson Royal- 15 Lucas Moura- 28 Tanguy Ndombele- 29 Oliver Skipp

Villa: 1 Emiliano Martinez- 2 Matthew Cash- 3 Matt Targett- 4 Ezri Konsa- 5 Tyrone Mings- 6 Douglas Luiz- 7 John McGinn- 11 Ollie Watkins- 20 Danny Ings- 30 Kortney Hause- 41 Jacob Ramsey