Hat-trick of disallowed goals for Son Heung-min as Spurs fall 2-1 to Villa
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Aston Villa's English striker Ollie Watkins (right) celebrates scoring his team's winning goal during the English Premier League football match against Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Nov 26. Villa won 2-1.
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – Before their home fixture against Aston Villa on Nov 26, Tottenham Hotspur fans honoured their former manager Terry Venables with a minute’s applause.
Minutes later, from the first whistle, Spurs players tried to pay their own tribute to the ex-England and Barcelona boss, who died aged 80 a day earlier “after a long illness”, with some scintillating football, even if it was not rewarded by the scoreline.
Venables, who led England to the Euro 96 semi-finals and guided Spurs to the 1991 FA Cup, was famed as an innovative, attacking manager and perhaps he would have seen the positives in this 2-1 defeat, which saw Villa move into fourth place in the Premier League, one spot above Tottenham.
Spurs have someone of that ilk again now in Ange Postecoglou. The Australian paid tribute to Venables’ influence as Socceroos coach in the late 1990s as well, adding: “He embodies, more than anyone else, what his club is about. It’s not just about wins or losses but the way you carry yourself and approach the game.”
Spurs opened the scoring via a corner after Giovani lo Celso’s rasping shot from just inside the box deflected off Diego Carlos and into the net after 22 minutes.
It was the Argentinian’s first start of the season after playing just 83 minutes this term.
In truth, it should not have taken that long for the net to ripple. Destiny Udogie blazed over with just Emiliano Martinez to beat after three minutes, Dejan Kulusevski hit the post two minutes later, before Bryan Gil had another good chance, all before the 10-minute mark.
Billed as the battle of the high lines before kick-off, it lived up to the hype with end-to-end football from the opening whistle.
Villa thought they had equalised seconds after Spurs’ opener but Ollie Watkins’ header was ruled out for offside. Spurs captain Son Heung-min also had a goal chalked off in the first half for the same reason.
But seven minutes into first-half added time, Pau Torres equalised against the run of the play with a header from a Douglas Luiz free kick, having missed a similar chance earlier in the match.
Luiz has been involved in 15 goals in 2023 (10 goals, five assists), behind only the more attacking Bruno Fernandes (17) and James Maddison (16).
The chances continued to flow in the second half, as Villa winger Leon Bailey hit the post in the 52nd minute. A Spurs counter-attack almost ended with Brennan Johnson sliding home two minutes later.
Son netted the game’s third disallowed goal on 59 minutes, before ViIla took the lead two minutes later via Watkins after some neat interplay. The England striker’s 12th goal in all competitions this season puts him behind only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (18) among EPL players.
Watkins told the BBC: “We didn’t have the best of starts, we were lucky to come in at 1-1. That goal right before half-time was a massive boost for us and it was crucial, really.
“I don’t think there’s been a game where we haven’t created chances. We have a big belief in ourselves.”
Spurs, who have now lost three straight games, will wonder how they did not get at least a point, as Ben Davies missed an open header from a set piece, before Martinez brilliantly denied Johnson and then Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
In the dying stages, Son made it a hat-trick of disallowed goals. He found the net after Pedro Porro’s shot hit the post, but his effort was chalked off again.
