Aston Villa continued their strong winning run at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday
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Aston Villa carried on from where they left off before the international break as Unai Emery’s side left Tottenham Hotspur with a comeback 2-1 victory over the high-flying north London side.
The result was a stark contrast from what we were seeing from the Villans in the early weeks of the season, when they looked far more toothless in front of goal. Morgan Rogers cancelled out Rodrigo Bentancur’s early strike with a sumptuous finish from range, a first of the season for the England international.
It would prove to be Emiliano Buendia who would win the game for Villa in the 77th minute. Despite being linked with a stunning move to Birmingham City over the summer, the Argentine was the decisive figure off the bench to secure a fifth consecutive win in all competitions for Villa. The club’s turnaround feels secure now, and fans will hope only to climb the table further from here.
Troy Deeney snubs Aston Villa stars in Team of the Week
Former Birmingham and Watford striker Troy Deeney has given his say on the Premier League’s outstanding players of match week eight, revealing his Team of the Week selections for BBC Sport.
Somewhat surprisingly, no Villa player makes the cut despite the team’s strong show of character to win at one of the division’s most in-form sides. Goalscorers Rogers and Buendia were snubbed as the ex-Blues star showed little sympathy to his former club’s second city rivals, picking an attacking formation with three strikers and leaving out any Villans representation.
The 37-year-old did, however, name Villa boss Emery as his manager of the week for the Spaniard’s role in his side’s comeback. Deeney said of Emery: “His team were 1-0 down at Spurs. His tactical changes turned the game in their favour for a 2-1 win.”
Deeney’s XI for TOTW (3-4-3): Dubravka; Acheampong, Maguire, Tuanzebe; James, Caicedo, Yarmoliuk, O’Reilly; Welbeck, Haaland, Mateta. Manager: Emery.
‘World-class’ - Shay Given praises Buendia’s winner on MOTD
Villa and Buendia received shed-loads of praise for their exploits from elsewhere, though, as former Villans goalkeeper Shay Given analysed the Argentine’s late winner on Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night. “It’s such a good goal, isn’t it?”, floated presenter Mark Chapman.
“This is the the best goal I think I’ve seen all season,” responded Given. “Me getting excited probably, but it comes from a corner, here, we see it come in. They clear and obviously [John] McGinn and [Matty] Cash are at the back, McGinn just nods it down to Cash. But watch this for a strike off Cash. It’s unbelievable, Mark, the technique out to [Lucas] Digne, and his two touches are incredible.
“And after that, obviously, Buendia does a bit of magic himself, onto his left-foot swinger. But you watch McGinn here, keep an eye on McGinn. He nods it back and goes, ‘Go safe, go home, go home!’, Cash goes ‘No, I’m having none of it’, I’m going to strike it out wide to Digne, two brilliant touches from him, and then obviously Buendia steps up to the party after that. It’s just an unbelievable goal.
“Look at that technique [from Cash], honest to God, I was off the sofa, I was excited. I was going ‘please be a goal, please be a goal’. It’s like a PlayStation goal, you see it on the computer. It is just world-class from Aston Villa, what a goal.”