Tottenham upset by resurgent Villa; Chelsea held at Forest
LONDON (AP) – Any New Year’s resolution by Tottenham to stop conceding the first goal lasted less than a day as Aston Villa continued their revival under Unai Emery with an away win for 2-0 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Antonio Conte’s side have conceded first in their last 10 games, with Tottenham fifth in the table after their latest disappointment.
Emiliano Buendia took advantage of a mistake by Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal to open the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Douglas Luiz doubled the lead to secure a second successive league win away from home for Villa, who have won three of their last four league games.
Tottenham have endured a poor run of results with just two wins in the club’s last seven matches, which have undermined their push for a top four finish.
Although Conte guided the club to the Champions League last season, he described the achievement as a “miracle” and insisted he will remain realistic with the club.
“I know what the (financial) reality is because I’m the coach,” Conte said after the game. “If you ask me if I’m afraid, I’m not afraid. I believe in my work, I believe in these players, but don’t ask me for things I can’t promise you.”
Spurs struggled to create chances against Villa and the players were booed after a third home defeat in their last five games.
Liverpool can move above Tottenham with a win at Brentford on Monday.
Chelsea were held 1-1 by Nottingham Forest in the other Premier League game on Sunday.
Forest’s impressive performance was marred by alleged homophobic chants from some home fans towards the away fans. Chelsea’s official LGBTQ+ supporters’ group took to Twitter towards the end of the first half to “totally condemn” the chant it said could be heard during a match which was shown live on Sky Sports.
Forest said in a statement shortly after full-time: “The club is aware of reports of chants directed at Chelsea supporters by a minority of fans tonight and does not condone any type of discriminatory or offensive behaviour. L ‘matter will be investigated’.
TOTTENHAM LOSES
Tottenham have been boosted by the return of World Cup finalists Cristian Romero and Lloris, but Dejan Kulusevski became Conte’s latest unavailable player due to a minor muscle injury.
The two goalkeepers from the World Cup final — France’s Lloris and Argentinian hero Emiliano Martínez — met again, but while Lloris started, Martínez was on the bench.
A lackluster first half featured as many yellow cards as shots. Each of Tottenham’s three centre-backs received bookings in a nine-minute period.
Ashley Young was well placed to clear Harry Kane’s header off the line in the 40th minute after Ivan Perisic had rounded Robin Olsen in the Villa goal. The chance woke Tottenham up with Son Heung-min taking off his protective mask midway through and sending a free-kick into the arms of the Swedish keeper soon after.
Despite going into half-time without conceding, Tottenham’s habit of falling behind continued five minutes into the second period. Lloris was at fault in his first appearance since the World Cup final and Buendia took advantage.
Luiz’s shot from distance was spilled by Lloris and the alert Watkins reacted quicker to tap Buendia, who slotted home from close range.
Kane fired wide on the half-volley soon after before committing a costly mistake to allow the away side to double their lead in the 73rd. Boubacar Kamara won possession from the Spurs striker and John McGinn exchanged passes with Luiz, who slotted home.
IMPULSE IN THE FOREST
Forest gave their Premier League survival hopes a boost with a point against Chelsea, whose problems continued on the road.
Forest have beaten Liverpool and Tottenham at the City Ground this season and looked strong despite falling behind to Raheem Sterling’s first Chelsea goal in the 16th minute.
Forest put in a fine display in the second half which was rewarded with Serge Aurier’s equalizer just after the hour mark. Eighth-placed Chelsea avoided at least a fourth defeat in a row but will need a big improvement to close the seven-point gap on the top four.
“This is the Premier League for you,” said Chelsea manager Graham Potter.
“The teams away from home will not make it easy for you. On the one hand you have players asking if they can have the players’ shirts and before the game they think they are going to go through a brick wall to prove they can be good enough to beat Chelsea… We have to be humble enough. to know that this is the challenge we have and that we must do better”.
Arsenal extended their league lead to seven points with a 4-2 win at Brighton on Saturday, while nearest rivals Manchester City and Newcastle dropped points.
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