Spurs stay winless, Van Hecke's late goal too late in Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur suffered another heavy defeat: at home against Aston Villa the match ended 2-3, leaving the Spurs still without their first win of the season and now sitting in the relegation zone.

Poor start to the season puts Spurs under pressure

The club started the Premier League with only two points from the first four games, after which a 3-0 loss to Brentford and a 0-2 loss to Newcastle United followed. Subsequently, there were two 0-0 draws against Nottingham Forest and Everton, causing the form of Roberto De Zerbi’s side to be seriously questioned.

In the home match against Aston Villa, Jan Paul van Hecke and captain Micky van de Ven were in the starting lineup, while Villa had collected only one point from their first four fixtures.

Villa snatches first win

The first half was dominated by chances on both sides; Sandro Tonali missed a long-range effort and in first‑half stoppage time Andrew Robertson delivered a corner that Johan Manzambi turned into the opening goal for the visitors.

After the break De Zerbi introduced Mohammed Kudus, but his goal was ruled out for offside. Seven minutes later Nicolas Jackson scored his first Premier League goal for Villa, after which Emiliano Buendía made it 0‑3 in the 79th minute.

Late goals provide consolation

Conor Gallagher scored in the 86th minute, followed by a goal from Jan Paul van Hecke in the very last seconds, giving the Spurs their first competitive goals of the season, but the equaliser came too late.

The defeat now leaves Tottenham eighteenth in the table, while Villa has climbed to fifteenth place.

Van Hecke and van de Ven return to the international break, but depart without the confidence they needed for the Dutch national team.

Tottenham invested almost €400 million last summer to turn the tide, but the current results show that the desired turnaround is still lacking.

With three weeks of international break still ahead for the club, the question remains how De Zerbi can reverse the crisis before the next Premier League match takes place.