Ollie Watkins fired Aston Villa into the Premier League’s top four with the winner at Tottenham to inflict a third consecutive defeat on the hosts.
Unai Emery’s side came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory and leapfrog Spurs after a thrilling end-to-end contest, with Pau Torres scoring a first-half header and Watkins scoring a second after 61 minutes.
Giovani Lo Celso had drilled Tottenham in front after 22 minutes with Ange Postecoglou’s selection gamble paying dividends at this point, but the hosts’ profligacy in front of goal cost them and Villa secured an eighth win from their last 10 matches.
Hours before the match it was revealed former Spurs player and manager Terry Venables had died and a minute’s applause occurred before kick-off in his memory.
Postecoglou’s team selection could have been out of Venables’ playbook, with the Australian going even more attacking than usual despite 11 first-team players being out, with Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg dropped.
Rodrigo Bentancur, Lo Celso and Bryan Gil all earned first league starts of the season and it could have been 2-2 after five minutes.
First, Villa captain John McGinn’s cutback was too powerful for the unmarked Matty Cash during the opening 60 seconds, then, down the other end, Destiny Udogie was sent clear but he sliced over with his weaker right foot.
Dejan Kulusevski struck a post immediately after from Son Heung-min’s clever through ball and Brennan Johnson’s follow-up was blocked by Torres.
Torres then should have broken the deadlock but he directed his free header wide from McGinn’s free-kick.
The breathless start showed no sign of slowing with a Gil effort saved by Emi Martinez before Son hooked over, although the offside flag was subsequently raised.
Another chance went begging when Pedro Porro’s cutback for Son was intercepted, but Tottenham did finally open the scoring in the 22nd minute.
A Porro corner was cleared out to Lo Celso and his sweet half-volley from the edge of the area took a deflection to leave compatriot Martinez with no chance.
It was Lo Celso’s first Spurs goal in more than two years, but Villa initially produced the perfect response.
Straight from kick-off, Lucas Digne got away down the left and crossed for Watkins to head home.
Villa’s joy was cut short when a three-minute VAR check eventually ruled the England forward had been offside.
The end-to-end nature was abandoned not long after when Bentancur injured his ankle after a poor challenge by Cash.
While Son found the net before half-time it was disallowed for offside and Villa’s growing dominance turned into an equaliser in the 52nd minute of the half.
Douglas Luiz’s free-kick from the touchline picked out Torres and he made no mistake with his header this time to make it 1-1 at the break.
Emery celebrated enthusiastically with his backroom staff but also made a double substitution, with Youri Tielemans and Leon Bailey introduced for the second period.
Bailey almost made an instant impact when his curled effort slipped through Guglielmo Vicario’s grasp but hit a post.
The frantic nature of the contest had returned now, with Johnson inches away from Kulusevski’s cross before Son had another effort ruled out for offside.
Villa remained a threat and not long after McGinn’s long-range lob sailed harmlessly over, they made it 2-1.
Substitute Tielemans was at the heart of it with a quick one-two giving Watkins a sight at goal and the England forward arrowed the ball into the bottom corner with 61 minutes played.
Postecoglou’s side responded strongly, with Porro testing Martinez and Ben Davies heading over from the resulting corner.
Vicario did keep Tottenham in the game with a finger-tip stop to thwart Digne’s free-kick before Martinez was required again, but produced superb saves to deny Johnson and Hojbjerg’s long-range curler.
There was still time for Son to have another goal disallowed after Porro’s initial effort hit a post, but Postecoglou’s side failed to find a late leveller and suffered a third straight loss.
Malacia makes Man Utd comeback after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Malacia makes injury comeback for Under-21s after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Taylor pleased with Man City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino were on target in the second half at the Joie Stadium, moving them three points clear at the top of Group D.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
The hosts dominated for large parts of the encounter, ending with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.75 from their 16 shots, while also accumulating 73.6% possession.
But Taylor was happy with his side's display and explained the physical test against the Swedish champions was something his players will benefit from moving forward.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad.
Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the Women's Super League, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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