Aston Villa move into fourth spot with narrow win over Tottenham Hotspur

Giovani Lo Celso sent Spurs ahead in the 22nd minute, but Pau Torres levelled the scores in the closing stages of the first period, before Ollie Watkins netted the winner just past the hour.

Villa have moved onto 28 points, replacing their opponents in the top four, and it is now three straight league defeats for a Tottenham side struggling with absentees.

Spurs had a golden chance to take the lead in the third minute of the contest when a long-range pass from Pedro Porro released Destiny Udogie, but the Italy international fired over the crossbar.

Tottenham attacker Dejan Kulusevski then somehow struck against the post after brilliantly working space inside the Villa box, with the away side's defence all over the place in the early exchanges.

There was another golden chance in the fifth minute, this time for Torres, but the Villa defender angled a header from a Lucas Digne free kick just past the post.

Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez then made a smart save to keep out a powerful strike from Bryan Gil in the seventh minute before Rodrigo Bentancur headed the rebound over the crossbar.

Spurs had another golden chance in the 13th minute, but Son Heung-min somehow turned a Porro delivery over the crossbar, and he was then relieved to see the offside flag raised.

The pressure from the home side was relentless, with Son inches away from meeting a glorious Gil cross in the 21st minute, and it was very much backs-against-the-wall for Villa.

The breakthrough finally arrived in the 22nd minute, with Lo Celso's thumping strike taking a flick off Diego Carlos before flying into the back of the net.

Less than two minutes later, Villa thought that they were level, with Watkins heading a cross from Digne into the back of the net from close range, but the goal was disallowed for offside following a lengthy VAR check.

Bentancur, recently back from a long-term knee injury, had to be replaced in the 32nd minute of the match after failing to recover from a heavy challenge from Matty Cash.

Kulusevski came close to doubling the home side's advantage in the 35th minute with a curling strike, but the ball just drifted wide of the target.

Son had the ball in the back of the Villa net in the 44th minute courtesy of a curling finish, but the offside flag was raised, and the resulting VAR check showed that it was the correct decision from the linesman.

Villa were up against it for the majority of the opening half, but the visitors were level in the final stages of the first period, with Torres heading a Douglas Luiz free kick into the back of the net.

Lo Celso had one deflected wide of the away side's goal early in the second period, before Son headed a cross from Kulusevski over the crossbar during a strong start from the home side.

Villa came close to a second in the 52nd minute through Leon Bailey, but his effort was pushed onto the post by Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who then managed to gather the loose ball.

Brennan Johnson then came close to meeting a dangerous cross from Son down the other end, before the latter had the ball in the back of the net in the 59th minute, but the flag was again raised, with a pulsating contest staying 1-1 heading towards the final 30 minutes of action.

Villa took the lead in the 61st minute, though, with Watkins collecting a clever pass from Youri Tielemans before finding the bottom corner with an empathic finish.

Martinez made a smart save to keep out a strike from Porro in the 67th minute, before Ben Davies just missed the target with a header from the resulting corner.

Vicario then had to fly across his goal to deny Digne from a free kick down the other end, before Watkins turned wide from the resulting corner during a very open period of the match.

Martinez was then called into action twice to deny Johnson and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in quick succession, but Villa continued to threaten down the other end, with Watkins again nodding wide in the 82nd minute.

Son, once again, had the ball in the back of the net in the 85th minute, but the offside flag was raised after Martinez had denied Porro, and Villa defended impressively in the latter stages to claim a huge three points in the capital.

Tottenham will be bidding to return to winning ways when they head to the champions Manchester City next Sunday, while Villa are in Europa Conference League action against Legia Warsaw on Thursday.