Substitute Emiliano Buendia’s late winner sealed a 2-1 turnaround win for Aston Villa at Tottenham to continue their resurgence.
Villa’s first away league win of the season gave Unai Emery’s side their fifth straight victory in all competitions, after they had failed to win their first six games this season.
But for Spurs, their home woes worsened – their four points in four home Premier League games this season is their poorest home start to a league campaign since 2008/09 (one point from four games).
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Emi Buendia completes the turnaround for Aston Villa, who now lead at Tottenham.
Villa had to recover from Rodrigo Bentancur’s fifth-minute opener as he slammed home from close range to give Spurs the perfect start.
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Rodrigo Bentancur gave Tottenham an early lead
But Villa grew into the game, and Morgan Rogers brought them level with a stunning 37th-minute strike.
Rogers’ first goal of the season was described as “beautiful” by Sky Sports’ Roy Keane after he arrowed a dipping effort from distance past Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
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Morgan Rogers slammed home the leveller for Aston Villa
The England international’s upturn in form, having assisted in the wins over Burnley and Fulham, has coincided with Villa’s strong improvement that told in the second half.
In the 77th minute, wonderful link-up play between full-backs Matty Cash and Lucas Digne, with Keane calling Cash’s pass “ball of the season”, saw Digne tee up substitute Buendia to curl home into the bottom far corner.
Tottenham failed to have a shot on target after Buendia’s goal as their seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end.
The defeat also means Spurs have now won just three of their last 18 Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Thomas Frank’s side dropped to sixth as 10th-place Villa climbed into the top half to move three points off the top four.
Emery: Villa still have work to do
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking at his post-match press conference on five wins on a row:
“Still work to do, and still players can increase their level. Some because they were coming back from injury, we have some players injured, and we can have more players to choose to play each match, which is better for the coach and for our performance.
Morgan Rogers celebrates after equalising for Aston Villa at Spurs
“We learnt last season, the second part of the season, we were performing fantastic, and we had a lot of players in different positions, ready to play and adding their quality in 30 minutes, like today.
“In the [final] 30 minutes, Buendia and (Ollie) Watkins, were fantastic after (Donyell) Malen and (Evann) Guessand did very well and then in the 15 minutes, (Ian) Maatsen and (Ross) Barkley, played fantastic.
“We are trying to build positive energy, enthusiasm and qualities. Of course, respecting the opponent and trying to compete, because competing is adapting to everything, tactically, individually, duels, set-pieces, throw ins.
“And we competed today, fantastically.”
Frank: Villa goals were ‘quality in nothing moments’
Morgan Rogers equalises for Aston Villa at Spurs
Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank speaking at his post-match press conference:
“I think the way the game panned out was exactly how I expected it to be. A very even game against a very good Villa team, set up very well by Unai, where we performed quite well.
“We dominated in good spells. We came out with very good intensity, very aggressive, we were good in high pressure.
“Defensively, we were excellent. There’s a couple of things you can look into when you look at it defensively. We gave away eight shots, not even a cross, a very, very low xG, and Vicario didn’t have a save.
“We gave two goals away in a position outside the box with a lot of players behind the ball. If you said to me before the game, they will shoot from there, Rogers and Buendia, with that situation, ‘Ah yeah, of course, no problem, it’s not dangerous’.
“But a fantastic quality shot from Rogers. So in those nothing moments, they had more quality.”
“I suppose I might have been a surprise package last year, but now people know about me and know my game.”
Morgan Rogers admitted to Sky Sports last month that his task in the Premier League has become harder. He is no longer the new kid on the block at Aston Villa. He is the player every team knows they must stop.
And his start to the season, without a goal in seven games, reinforced how he has become a marked man.
Head coach Unai Emery wasn’t prepared to give up on him, though. Rogers has started all of their Premier League and Europa League matches.
“He is always doing his task. He is a hard worker,” explained Emery. “And through it, the performance is coming.
“He’s playing and he’s scoring because he’s helping the team for 90 minutes.”
Rogers’ stunning strike against Tottenham was the only shot he had during the match. It was a bolt from the blue, but one that can help reinstall his confidence after a tricky period in his career.
David Richardson
Spurs’ home form ‘alarming’
The sound of boos at the full-time whistle has become a regular occurrence at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs’ home form is alarming. Their supporters have seen just three wins at home in the last 18 Premier League games.
In fact, the 2-1 loss to Aston Villa means it is Tottenham’s poorest home start to a league campaign since 2008/09.
Since November 10 last year, Spurs have lost more home games than any other ever-present Premier League side.
Frank has been unable to solve an issue which developed under his predecessor Ange Postecoglou.
Asked to explain their home struggles, the Dane said at his post-match press conference: “I don’t think it’s that simple. It’s about looking into the performances.
“I think we performed well against Burnley, I think we performed well today. I think we had one very good first half against Wolves, and we were bad against Bournemouth.
“We could easily have won it instead of Villa, and then it would have been a different narrative, so I look at the performance on the pitch at what we did well and look at what we need to improve.”
Frank, then, will be relieved their next three games are all away.
They next return at home on November 1 as they host Chelsea, live on Sky Sports. The boos will only be louder if they suffer yet another home defeat against their London rivals.
Declan Olley
Opta Stats: Spurs lose again without Romero
- Since the start of 2023-24, Tottenham Hotspur have won just 23 per cent of their Premier League games without defender Cristian Romero (6/26), compared to a 50 per cent league win rate when he has played in this time (29/58).
- Since the start of last season, Tottenham Hotspur have dropped more points from winning positions at home in the Premier League (19) than any other side, losing five times after leading at home in the division in this time, also a league-high tally.
- In his 160 Premier League games as a manager, Aston Villa’s Unai Emery has seen his sides both score and concede in 101 of them, a ratio of 63 per cent. This is the highest proportion of the 80 managers to take charge of 100+ Premier League matches.
- Aged 23 years and 85 days, Morgan Rogers became the sixth-youngest player to record 25 Premier League goal involvements for Aston Villa (12 goals, 13 assists), and youngest since Christian Benteke in August 2013 (22y 257d).
