Aston Villa overcame a two-point deficit to win 2-1 against an injured Tottenham team and take the lead in the Premier League.
Ollie Watkins completed Villa’s comeback at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the 61st minute by finding space in the middle of a haphazard Spurs defence and rolling a shot into the bottom corner. It was Watkins’ seventh league goal of the year.
Tottenham has now lost three straight league games, and their season is in danger of collapsing given that the Australian manager Ange Postecoglou’s team was leading the league not too long ago.
Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was forced off after a foul by Matty Cash, joining a long list of injuries and suspensions (for Cristian Romero and Yves Bissouma, respectively). Bentancur was making his first start after missing eight months due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
After 13 games, Villa moved up to fourth place, level on points with third-place Liverpool and two points behind leaders Arsenal. Tottenham is in fifth place, two points behind Villa.
In the 22nd minute, Giovani Lo Celso, who was substituted for injured playmaker James Maddison, scored Tottenham’s first goal with a deflected effort from the edge of the area after Villa had failed to clear a right-wing corner.
Soon after the half ended, Bentancur was substituted due to injury, and Watkins’ goal was disallowed for offside. In the seventh minute of stoppage time in the first half, Pau Torres headed in a free kick from Douglas Luiz to tie the score for Villa.
After Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario deflected a shot from substitute Leon Bailey onto the post and out of bounds, Villa enjoyed more possession of the ball in the second half. Watkins and Youri Tielemans exchanged passes, and Watkins’ low shot from a central position beat Vicario to give the visitors the lead.
Tottenham put late pressure on the game when goalie Emi Martinez denied Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Brennan Johnson twice, and Son Heung-min’s goal was disallowed for offside.
Before kickoff, there was a minute of applause, and both teams’ players wore black armbands in memory of Terry Venables, the former Tottenham and England coach whose death at the age of 80 was revealed on Sunday.
