Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins hits winner for Villans as Spurs lose third game in a row

Ollie Watkins fired the winner as Aston Villa came from behind to beat Tottenham 2-1 and leapfrog Ange Postecoglou’s injury-hit side into fourth place in the Premier League table.

Prior to kick off the stadium paid an emotional tribute to the late, great Terry Venables after it was announced the former Lilywhites manager had passed away in the hours leading up to the contest.

Tottenham responded by flying out of the traps, with Dejan Kulusevski and Destiny Udogie amongst those to miss some glorious chances before Giovani Lo Celso’s deflected strike gave the home team a deserved lead on 22 minutes.

Villa were second best and fortunate to still be in it, but Unai Emery’s men stunned the home crowd in first-half stoppage time when Pau Torres headed in Douglas Luiz’s free kick.

The pattern continued following the interval, but Tottenham couldn’t make their dominance count and Watkins made them pay just past the hour when he rifled in his seventh top-flight goal of the campaign.

The result sees Villa move into the top four, just two points off leaders Arsenal. Tottenham drop to fifth after losing for the third straight game and are now four points adrift of the summit.

Villa will now switch focus to Thursday’s UEFA Europa Conference League clash at home to Legia Warsaw prior to a trip to Bournemouth next Sunday. Spurs travel to champions Manchester City.

It was an afternoon to forget for Tottenham and it won’t get any easier for the injury-hit former leaders with champions Manchester City up next.

The Lilywhites have now lost three games in a row having taken the lead in all of those matches, and Postecoglou will be wondering what he’s done to deserve such rotten luck; both in terms of things going against them on the pitch and a growing list of injury concerns.

Rodrigo Bentancur was making his first start since February today, but his afternoon was curtailed by a crude challenge from Matty Cash and the midfielder's predicament summed up how it’s going for Tottenham right now.

As for Villa, their rise and rise under Emery continues. They were perhaps fortunate to pick up a rare away-day success here, but they remain very much worthy of being in the mix as they bid to upset the usual suspects vying for a Champions League berth come the end of the season.

Emiliano Martinez. (Aston Villa). The goalkeeper pulled off a string of routine saves as well as a couple of top-drawer ones to keep his side in it and preserve their lead once they had gone in front.

TOTTENHAM: Vicario 7, Porro 7, Royal 6, Davies 7, Udogie 6, Bentancur 6, Lo Celso 7, Gil 6, Kulusevski 7, Son 6, Johnson 6. Subs: Hojbjerg 6, Skipp 6, Veliz n/a.

ASTON VILLA: Martinez 8, Cash 6, Konsa 7, Carlos 7, Torres 7, Digne 7, Luiz 7, Kamara 6, McGinn 6, Diaby 6, Watkins 7. Subs: Tielemans 7, Bailey 7, Duran n/a, Ramsey n/a.

03’ – TOTTENHAM CHANCES! Udogie surges onto a pass through the middle but blazes over the bar. The hosts comes again but Kulusevski fires against the post from eight yards out!

22’ – GOAL! – Tottenham 1-0 Aston Villa (Giovani Lo Celso): A right-wing corner finds its way through to Lo Celso on the left edge of the box, who rifles a thunderous first-time strike beyond Martinez via a slight deflection.

45+6’ – GOAL! – Tottenham 1-1 Aston Villa (Pau Torres): Torres bullets a header into the corner from Luiz's brilliant right-wing free kick.

52’ – ASTON VILLA CHANCE! Bailey races into acres of space,cuts in from the right and fires in a 22-yard effort that Vicario fumbles onto the post. The Spurs keeper reacts quickly to smother the second ball, but that was a bit of a let off.

61’ – GOAL! – Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa (Ollie Watkins): Watkins sizzles a lovely strike into the bottom corner after a sublime link-up with Tielemans.

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