It has been one of the curiousities of Thomas Tuchel’s rapidly evolving England side that until today the man in possession of the No 10 shirt had not scored all season.
Morgan Rogers put paid to that statistic with a sumptuous strike to equalise for Aston Villa near half-time, before the substitute Emiliano Buendía grabbed an unexpected winner for the visitors with 13 minutes remaining.
Villa had ridden their luck, with Tottenham dominating the ball and creating more chances, but this hard-fought victory is enough to suggest that their pre-international break revival could become permanent. After five successive wins in all competitions the misery of a disappointing, PSR-affected summer and resultant slow start to the season seems like a distant memory.
Tottenham’s season in contrast, is in danger of flattering to deceive, as they did in the game. After taking a fifth-minute lead through Rodrigo Bentancur, this was a golden opportunity to move up to second in the table and put pressure on Arsenal, which they could not take.
More worryingly, the defeat conforms to a pattern of Tottenham failing to take advantage of the support of a 61,000 crowd, with home games against Bournemouth, Burnley, Wolves and Villa bringing just a solitary victory. There were only a handful of boos at the final whistle, and the exciting and energetic playing style fostered by Thomas Frank means he remains in credit, but a dismal run of just three wins in 18 home matches needs correcting quicky.
