Aston Villa grab victory despite late Spurs goals as De Zerbi’s side are booed off

Tottenham Hotspur have a strange ability to find new ways of upsetting their fans, and they did it again here. They started well, but the match ended in an embarrassing defeat, confirming their worst ever start to a Premier League season. On the positive side, they did score two goals. Both came late in the game and only reduced the losing margin, but that was better than nothing.

Aston Villa were meanwhile ruthless in claiming their first victory of the season. They capitalised in first-half added time to take the lead while Spurs were temporarily down to 10 men. In the second, Unai Emery’s side were robust in defence and clinical on the counter, and supreme strikes from both Nicolas Jackson and Emi Buendía decided the contest. With Johan Manzambi the other goalscorer, there were pleasing signs for the Spaniard’s turbo-charged refit of his team.

Related: De Zerbi rips into Spurs players after Villa defeat: ‘Disappointed, sad and frustrated’

Zion Suzuki was likely the best player on the field, and he was clearly the standout performer in the first 30 minutes. He made several key saves early in the game to stop Spurs from scoring, which they wanted badly. The best save was probably a double stop against Sávio in the 11th minute. Another notable save came when he stopped a shot from Archie Gray, using his heel from a tight angle. Suzuki also made more passes into the final third than anyone else on the pitch. His total of 14 such passes was double the number made by Spurs' £100m signing, Sandro Tonali.

All of Japan international goalkeeper's saves built up frustration in the stadium, and that frustration began to affect the mood of the match. Spurs' fans sensed it might be another disappointing day, and Villa's players started to relax a little, knowing they had a strong defender behind them. Villa kept sending direct passes to Jackson, which often troubled the Spurs defense, so a scoring chance seemed likely to come their way eventually.

That moment finally came in the first half, during added time. At that point, Micky van de Ven, one of Spurs' two central defenders, was getting treatment on the touchline. The captain was being treated for a cut on his cheek. While this was happening, Buendía played another clever pass over the Spurs defensive line. Spurs partly dealt with the danger, but Andy Robertson misjudged his next move. Trying to start a counterattack, he passed the ball blindly to John McGinn. The Villa captain then curled the ball back into the box. Boubacar Kamara's shot was deflected, and Manzambi was there to scoop the loose ball into the net from six yards out.

Roberto De Zerbi sent on Mohammed Kudus at half-time to replace Mateus Fernandes, who had played poorly. The talented but unpredictable Ghanaian excited the crowd within 15 minutes of coming on, scoring from six yards out after a cross from Robertson. However, the video assistant referee disallowed the goal for offside against the Scotsman.

At that moment it felt like the game was over, because Spurs looked so unsure of themselves. But Villa had time to add more pressure, and Jackson struck again with a clever, predatory goal. He latched on to a long kick from Suzuki and passed the ball to Manzambi, who quickly played it back to him. The Senegal forward controlled the ball on his chest, flicked it over Van de Ven's head like Gazza used to do, and then finished coolly with his right foot into the bottom corner. Antonin Kinsky got a touch on the ball, but it wasn't enough to stop it. Jackson celebrated like a Roman emperor, turning his thumb down to the camera.

With 10 minutes left, Villa was pressing near the edge of the Spurs box. Buendía joined in with a great long-range shot. It had very little backswing. The ball curved around his marker, went outside the goal, then came back in and hit the top corner of Kinsky's net.

Tottenham have not won any of their last 48 games in all competitions when they conceded the first goal. In those games, they drew 11 and lost 37. Of those 48 games, 37 were in the Premier League, where they drew 8 and lost 29.

This is Tottenham's worst start to a Premier League season after five games. They have two points and a goal difference of -6. This is worse than their start in the 2008-09 season, when they had 2 points and a goal difference of -3.

Conor Gallagher scored a goal, shown in the picture. It ended a run of 492 Premier League minutes without a goal for Tottenham Hotspur. It was also their first league goal of the 2026-27 season, coming after 67 shots. Opta

Conor Gallagher, coming off the bench with six minutes of normal time remaining, scored within three minutes of his arrival, while Jan Paul van Hecke reduced the deficit to just one with the last touch of the match. But the boos still rose up as fans contemplated the increasing likelihood of another tormented season. This had been billed as a match between two teams with poor form but high hopes. Villa look to have shed the former, can Tottenham still lay claim to the latter?