It took Tottenham only four minutes to take the lead, though it came through fortuitous circumstances. Lucas Bergvall's low cross into Richarlison was easily cut out by Luiz Junior, but somehow the Villarreal goalkeeper fumbled the ball backwards over the goal line.
Spurs wanted a penalty towards the end of the first half when Richarlison was felled by Pape Gueye, though their appeals were dismissed and a lengthy VAR check proved inconclusive. Gueye got away with another VAR call when the ball ricocheted up onto his arm inside the 18-yard box soon after.
An incredibly dull second half almost sparked into life near its end when Micky van de Ven brought down Georges Mikautadze right on the edge of the penalty area as he bore down on goal. VAR confirmed a free-kick as the offence happened just outside the box, but - bizarrely - no red card for the Dutchman despite the hefty last-man challenge.
Former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe flashed the resulting set-piece narrowly wide and that was as close as Villarreal came to finding an equaliser, with Spurs holding on to secure a fourth clean sheet from their opening six matches in all competitions this season.