Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of securing European football will be decided on the final day of the Premier League season after suffering a 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday.
Spurs got off to the perfect start and took the lead eight minutes in when Marvellous Nakamba was too casual on a ball headed his way from the halfway line and Steven Bergwijn muscled in to hold off his man and rifle his strike into the top corner.
Villa managed to draw the game level in the 20th minute when Sergio Reguilon put the ball into his own net to bag the 1,000th own goal in Premier League history.
Ollie Watkins then gave his side the lead after 39 minutes of play after Reguilon failed to clear his lines at left back before the ball cannoned off Traore to the feet of Ollie Watkins, who fended off Toby Alderweireld before slotting a neat finish in at the near post.
Villa should’ve been 3-1 up in stoppage time when McGinn nicked the ball off Winks before he passed a square ball to Grealish on the edge of the box who helped it on to El Ghazi, but he got his finish all wrong as he was trying to bend it into the far corner.
The visitors went into the half-time break with the scoreline at 2-1 in favour of Villa.
Spurs missed a great opportunity to level matters early in the second half when Alli threaded a pass through for Son. He tried a backheel for Reguilon. It ended up setting up Bergwijn who fired a powerful effort at goal, but Martinez got across to push it behind for a corner.
The home side started to gain momentum after 51 minutes of play as Kane burst forward before teeing up Bergwijn, who lashed his effort straight at Martinez before Kane volleyed his effort over the bar three minutes later.
Spurs thought they should’ve been awarded a penalty in the 67th minute when Alli was bundled to the ground by Mings, but the flag went up for offside.
Martinez kept his side’s lead intact in the 75th minute when he made a comfortable save to deny Kane’s deflected shot after some individual brilliance from Bale and Kane.
Bale had a chance to make it 2-2 with a minute to play when he pulled off a couple of kick-ups to keep the ball away from his markers before firing his volley towards goal, but he could only direct his effort over the bar.
Debutant Carney Chukwuemeka nearly sealed the game for Villa deep in stoppage time but saw his strike from the edge of the area crash off the post as the visitors held on for a 2-1 win over Spurs.
