Tottenham could have gone second in the Premier League but fell short on Sunday. Re-live the action with the best facts and Opta data in our Tottenham vs Aston Villa stats page.
Tottenham’s miserable recent record at home shows little sign of improving after they were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.
Spurs went into the match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having won just three of their previous 17 home league games – the defeat made it 11 losses from 18 top-flight matches on their own patch.
The game had started so promisingly as well; an early opener put Tottenham in charge, but they showed little to suggest they’d extend their lead before Morgan Rogers equalised exquisitely with his first goal of the season.
Villa completed the turnaround in the 77th minute through substitute Emi Buendía, ensuring Thomas Frank’s Unai Emery hoodoo continued, with the Dane still yet to win in their six Premier League meetings.
But more importantly, Spurs missed out on the chance to go second in the Premier League, while Villa firmly put their shaky start to the season behind them.
Despite the outcome, Villa appeared at sea initially. Their task quickly went up a few difficulty notches as Spurs scored their quickest Premier League goal of the season, taking the lead with four minutes and 38 seconds on the clock.
It was an unlikely combination, too. Mohammed Kudus’ deep cross from the left after Villa could only partially clear a corner was devilish and found João Palhinha at the back post, his header teeing up an easy finish for Rodrigo Bentancur.
That was in keeping with Villa’s slow starts this term, with their three goals conceded in the opening 15 minutes of matches the most in the Premier League. Simiarly, Thomas Frank’s teams have scored six goals in the opening five minutes of league games since the start of last season, more than any other manager.
But Spurs’ fast start was hardly an indicator of dominant first half for the hosts.
Neither side offered a great deal until Villa equalised almost out of nothing in the 37th minute. Rogers benefited from his misplaced pass coming back off Xavi Simons, and he subsequently sidestepped the Dutchman before firing home spectacularly from 25 yards.
The England international had come in for some stick for his club form this term, but it was a timely reminder of what he’s capable of and ended a 20-match run in all competitions without a goal.
Spurs began to show signs of exerting some control after the interval, with 56.2% of the action taking place in Villa’s defensive third in first 15 minutes of the second half.
But the only Spurs player who went anywhere close to restoring their lead was Palhinha, the defensive midfielder seeing an effort tipped around the post by Emiliano Martínez.
That Palhinha effort was the only shot on target in the 30 minutes that followed the break – the next was decisive, though.
Lucas Digne brilliantly brought down a long pass on the right flank, flicked the ball to Buendía and the Argentinian coolly placed a left-footed attempt into the bottom-left corner.
For a player who last season appeared surplus to requirements at Villa, that took him to three goals in his last four appearances for the club, as many as he managed in his prior 44 outings.
And there was little hint of Spurs battling back.
There’d been a growing sense that Spurs’ impressive start to the campaign rather flattered them, and this performance will hardly dispel such opinions.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Aston Villa stats from their Premier League meeting at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Tottenham vs Aston Villa Stats: Post-Match Facts
Aston Villa have won four of their last six Premier League away games against Tottenham Hotspur (L2), more than their previous 21 beforehand (W3 D5 L13).
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%. This is the highest proportion of the 80 managers to take charge of 100+ Premier League matches.
With just four points in four home Premier League games this season (W1 D1 L2), this is Tottenham’s poorest home start to a league campaign since 2008-09, when they had one point from their opening four at home.
Aston Villa enjoyed their first Premier League away win after falling behind in exactly a year (since Oct 19th, 2024 v Fulham), having lost 10 of their previous 11 away league games in which they trailed before today (D1).
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.