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What Terry Venables would have made of it is difficult to fathom. Venables worked hard on defensive form as a coach and will always be remembered for producing teams that played with freedom, fluidity and adventure.
There was certainly no shortage of that from both teams on a day when tributes were paid to a man who won the FA Cup as a player and as a manager at Tottenham, and whose death at the age of 80 was confirmed before kick-off. out.
What followed was a breathtaking commitment to flair and creativity, an intense match won by Aston Villa, the winning goal scored by Ollie Watkins.
It lifted Unai Emery’s side above Spurs and into the top four and left Ange Postecoglou with a third successive defeat, starting with the meltdown against Chelsea and then a trip to Manchester City.
Ollie Watkins scored the winner as Aston Villa came from behind to record a big win
Watkins found the corner of the net and claimed the three points in the closing sygrd
Another injury followed for Postecoglou when Rodrigo Bentancur was forced off in the middle of a breathless first half, who made an explosive start when Matty Cash missed the first chance of the match inside a minute.
Destiny Udogie shot over when he cleared clear, at the other end Dejan Kulusevski hit a post and Pau Torres headed wide when he should have scored.
Giovani Lo Celso put Spurs ahead that evening, but the visitors hit back
The visiting team took the lead, but could not hold on to it long enough
All this within the first five minutes, perhaps not much of a surprise given the team Postecoglou has selected in response to his injury crisis, with no recognized centre-backs or holding midfielders.
Emerson Royal and Ben Davies teamed up in the center of defense with Bentancur in midfield, flanked by Giovani Lo Celso, in the role of James Maddison, and Dejan Kulusevski, in the role of Pape Matar Sarr.
Postecoglou made more logical changes last time out against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but left Molineux after a defeat with the feeling that his team had played it safe, so he started back on the bench with Eric Dier and Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and took a solid position up front stand foot.
Initially with great success. Spurs burst through Villa’s high line and created a wealth of openings before Lo Celso found the net midway through the first half from a corner that slid to him on the edge of the penalty area.
He struck the ball sweetly, but it was helped past Martinez by a big deflection off the right knee of Diego Carlos. It was his first Premier League goal in three years. His last goal came on loan at Villarreal, where he played for Villa boss Unai Emery.
Watkins thought he had equalized almost immediately with a header from a Lucas Digne free kick, but it was disallowed for offside after a three-minute VAR check. It was tight.
Watkins rose to score the winning goal on a night where it was all about play
When play resumed, Cash took out his frustrations on Bentancur with an ugly late tackle. There was no attempt to play the ball. It was an old-fashioned hack from the Poland international and although Bentancur tried to continue, he soon limped away.
It was a big event for Tottenham, who had already lost so many players. Yves Bissouma and Cristian Romero were suspended and Sarr, Maddison, Richarlison, Micky van de Ven, Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon were all injured.
And from this point on there was a needle in the match. Spurs became distracted in their determination to get Cash sent off or Boubacar Kamara, who was also booked during this niggling phase.
Hojbjerg replaced Bentancur and released Heung-min Son to score, but the flag went up and he was offside. Kulusevski then curled a shot wide before Villa equalized with Torres’ header from a free-kick that Douglas Luiz deflected into the penalty area.
The execution was simply astonishing and if Spurs ever looked vulnerable due to their absence of centre-backs, it was when defending set pieces. This time the visitors survived a VAR check and the goal would stand.
The second half produced more of these breathless escapades. Crosses flashed over Villa’s goal without a finish and Son had another goal disallowed for offside, this one clear but at the other end they were living dangerously.
Guglielmo Vicario has barely made a mistake since arriving this year, but let Leon Bailey’s shot slip through his hands. The Italian goalkeeper was relieved when the ball bounced off the post.
He came out of his goal and tried to clear another attack with a diving header, but only found John McGinn, who tried to find the empty net with a first-time finish on the half-volley from 35 yards.
McGinn’s audacious effort went wide of the target but Watkins soon gave Villa the lead, linking up with Youri Tielemans to drive low past Vicario from an angle. It was his twelfth goal of the season for his club.
Martinez made excellent saves to protect the lead, pushing Porro’s volley wide and Hojbjrg’s long-range effort. Ben Davies header over from corner. There were saves from Vicario to prevent Villa stretching further, but Tottenham could not find their way back.