BirminghamLive brings you the talking points from Aston Villa's 2-1 win at Tottenham in the Premier League
What a Sunday afternoon that was for Aston Villa.
Exactly one year after last winning a league game having fallen behind on the road, Villa claimed their fifth win in a row in all competitions.
Rodrigo Bentancur opened the scoring for Tottenham early on before Morgan Rogers scored his first of the season in claret and blue, firing past Guglielmo Vicario from distance.
Emi Buendía then came off the bench to complete the comeback for Villa, finishing what was another brilliant goal for Unai Emery’s side.
Here are the talking points from Villa’s win…
Villa's comeback in the capital
Coming back from behind away from home is often the mark of a team with strong character and mentality.
But Villa had lost 10 of their previous 11 away league games in which they’d trailed before beating Spurs on Sunday.
So, after winning four matches before the weekend, just what could a victory of that nature do for Villa’s confidence?
It was such a poor start to the season that a slender 1-0 win against Bologna felt more like relief than anything else, before a more convincing victory over Fulham a few days later.
Winning in Rotterdam meant so much for everyone connected to Villa — not only because it extended the winning run and made it two from two in Europe, but also because of what happened at De Kuip 43 years ago.
Beating Burnley was routine more than anything else, but travelling to Spurs began a difficult run of league fixtures for the club, with Man City and Liverpool to come, before high-flying Bournemouth head to B6 ahead of the November break.
Leaving Tottenham with a result was hugely important for Villa — for their confidence, more than anything else. It's their first statement result of the campaign.
Benefits of strength in depth
When you consider Villa have won five on the spin without their player of the season, Youri Tielemans, it’s even more impressive. And there was no Ollie Watkins from the start, either.
Instead, Donyell Malen led the line, but was largely ineffective, only threatening the Tottenham rearguard on a couple of occasions.
That’s not a swipe at Malen — we’ve learned in recent weeks that the Dutchman’s best role is to dovetail with Watkins, rather than compete for his place.
Watkins didn’t start as he wasn’t 100 per cent fit, but you wouldn’t have known it from the way he ran the channels and relentlessly pressed the opposition once introduced.
He was a nightmare for the Spurs backline in the final 30 minutes — they really did not want to see him come on.
Emery was full of praise for his striker after the match and spoke about how Watkins doesn’t need to score to make a big impact on the team.
On Instagram, Emery posted about the importance of having a deep squad with options:
“What a great victory today! This group, whether starters or subs, showed how strong teamwork is in every match situation. Up the Villa!”
Buendia proving the difference
Buendía came on at the same time as Watkins and made an even more telling impact on the game, scoring the winner in front of the travelling fans.
Now, with three goals in his last four appearances, it’s Buendía whose key contributions have helped drag the club out of a terrible start to the season.
The team has turned a precarious position into one where they’ve won both opening Europa League matches and sit just three points off the top three.
He’s making up for lost time after dealing with an ACL injury and then spending the second half of last season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen.
Buendía had plenty of doubters before the start of the season — and to be fair, with reason, as he hadn’t shown his quality with enough consistency before this campaign. But there were mitigating factors.
How he’s responded to the setbacks and challenges he’s faced during his Villa career is admirable, to say the very least. More of this, Emi!
“It was a great quality goal,” he said on the BBC after the game. “I tried to find the bottom corner — it’s always hard, but we scored and we got the win.
"It is always important to work hard and push to be in the best shape for the manager. We have to fight for our places.
"We had a bad start; we couldn’t feel comfortable or compete at the level this competition deserves. But after the break, we showed different qualities.
"I think we have a really good squad, and good players who didn’t play today — they also have great qualities.”
Flowers for the full-backs
I wrote in my player ratings for the season so far that Matty Cash has been one of Villa’s best players this campaign.
His ball out to Lucas Digne, which led to Buendía’s goal, was outstanding — a real showcase of the right-back’s quality, even if John McGinn initially thought going back to Emi Martínez was the safer choice before Cash picked out that exquisite ball down the channel.
Cash completed 90 per cent of his passes against Spurs, played five into the final third, and won four duels while also recording four clearances.
On the opposite flank, Digne impressed too — winning seven duels, including all three in the air. Cash combined with him for that excellent move, but credit to Digne for taking the ball under control and delivering the assist for match-winner Buendía.
Most impressively, Digne soldiered on despite a gruesome injury caused by Kevin Danso, who trod on the side of the full-back’s ankle after following through on a clearance.
After the match, Digne shared a picture of the injury — a deep cut several inches wide on the bottom of his leg — with the caption: “No pain, no gain,” alongside laughing and facepalm emojis.
But he wasn’t laughing when he came off — visibly furious, he lashed out at the seat in front of him before calling fourth official Anthony Taylor to show the extent of his injury and exchange a few choice words.
Rogers takes another step forward
In Rogers and Buendía, two Villa players scored from outside the box in the same Premier League away game for the first time since April 2023 — when John McGinn and Watkins did so against Chelsea.
After scoring his first England goal during the November internationals, Rogers took another step forward in his confidence, hammering the ball past Vicario on Sunday.
That strike might not have come off a few weeks ago, but perhaps this is the start of a purple patch — that’s the fickle nature of football.
What was most concerning about Rogers’ start to the season was that he couldn’t get the basics right. But this isn’t a player who has struggled to prove himself in the past.
In fact, towards the end of August, Rogers scooped the PFA Young Player of the Year award. He just needed some support — and he’s certainly had it from Emery, who played him through his poor form as a show of faith in the 23-year-old, whose rise under the Spaniard has been rapid.
Claret & Blue verdict
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