Tottenham 4 Aston Villa 1 - Villa thrashed in the capital

There was certainly nothing to celebrate at Tottenham for the Villa boss, who marked 53 years on the planet by watching his team collapse to a 4-1 defeat.

Time will tell whether this was a mere blip for Villa or the sign of something deeper. Suffering just a second Premier League defeat of the season is clearly no reason to panic.

By the same token, there is no point pretending this result was anything than a major disappointment.

For the second weekend running, Villa failed to hold a lead. Only this time, rather than draw, as they did at home to Bournemouth, they were beaten and pushed aside by a Spurs team who in the second half wrestled hold of a game which always felt up for grabs.

Having left the field to boos - admittedly most of them directed toward referee Craig Pawson - trailing to Morgan Rogers' 32nd minute opener at half-time it was the hosts who stepped it up after the break. Brennan Johnson equalised and though Villa remained very much in it, two goals in the space of five minutes from Dominic Solanke ultimately decided the afternoon in Tottenham's favour. 

James Maddison's stoppage time free-kick rubbed further salt in the wound and condemned Villa to their heaviest defeat - barring last season's 5-0 party-influenced surrender at Crystal Palace - since the 4-0 loss to Spurs in March.

Emery’s men, of course, rebounded from that disappointment to go on and claim fourth place and qualify for the Champions League ahead of their rivals. This season remains young and a little strange, with the top half of the table heavily congested behind the top two of Liverpool and Manchester City. Emery would have taken being level on points with Arsenal after 10 games, albeit this was a missed opportunity to steal a march on some of their rivals in the race for Europe.

Yet it would also be wrong to ignore the fact this loss also exposed some recurring issues which have been evident for much of the early part of the season.

Most glaring is the ease with which Villa concede goals. Emi Martinez, who picked the ball out of the net four times in his first match since being crowned the world's best goalkeeper for the second year running, has kept only one league clean sheet. Having seen out the first half of this game with relative ease, it did not take much to breach Villa's defence after the break. One fine cross from Son Heung-min and one momentary lapse from Lucas Digne was all it took.

There are also a few issues to solve in attack. Though Villa did not create nearly so much as against Bournemouth, they were guilty of missing chances or, more often, picking the wrong option in the final third. In a match far tighter than the final scoreline might suggest, Jacob Ramsey's cross pulled behind Ollie Watkins with the score level at 1-1 sticks in the memory. Villa's cause, it should be noted, was not helped by the loss of Matty Cash and Rogers to injury when the scores were level.

Villa began the game brightly, Rogers firing a shot over the bar before the first big chance of the afternoon fell to Watkins. Digne’s cross in from the left seemed perfect but Villa’s striker, under a little pressure from Radu Dragusin, could not make contact with the ball.

Yet any thought the match might become a repeat of last season’s affair here when both teams could have scored twice in the opening five minutes quickly fizzled out along with most of the excitement before the opening goal.

Rodrigo Bentancur sent two shots from distance over the Villa bar, the first clearing it comfortably, the other by about a yard. Tottenham looked marginally the more cohesive of the two teams but neither had found much rhythm before the visitors took the lead in the 32nd minute.

The moments before that had been Villa’s most fluid of the afternoon to date. Youri Tielemans picked out Ramsey and he cut inside, hitting a shot which deflected off the boot of Dragusin and over the bar. From the corner the ball was worked to Digne who sent in a cross which Amadou Onana rose to meet, his header thudding off the base of the post before hitting Guglielmo Vicario and going behind.

Tottenham would not get so lucky this time around. Digne delivered the corner, which Pedro Porro could only direct toward his own goal, the ball hitting Bentancur and then Vicario before sitting up for Rogers to hit home from a yard or so out. Pretty it was not but from Villa’s point of view it was effective.

Buoyed by the goal, the visitors should probably have led by more at the break but Watkins was unable to put the finishing touch on the best move of the half, pulling his shot wide after Rogers had played the ball perfectly into his path.

It was a moment which took on added significance when the hosts, who left the pitch to boos, pulled level within four minutes of the restart. Returning captain Son delivered the quality they needed, whipping in a cross from the left which Johnson converted at the far post having gotten in front of Digne.

The stadium was suddenly alive with noise and the home side almost had a second. Son found Destiny Udogie, who turned the ball back to Solanke. Martinez dived low to his right to make the save.

The game was now the open affair many had expected at the start. Tielemans’ free-kick was only cleared as far as McGinn and the Villa captain hit a shot which span past the far post.

Both teams were forced into changes, Matty Cash and Cristian Romero both picking up injuries. Villa’s substitute, Diego Carlos, might have restored the lead had he been able to react quickly enough to Digne’s driven shot. Instead the ball hit him and flew well wide. 

It felt like the match could go either way and with 15 minutes to go it was Spurs who seized the initiative. Watkins ran into trouble, Sarr steamed forward and a neat exchange between Johnson and Kulusevski saw the latter turn a reverse pass into the path of Solanke, who lifted his finish over Martinez.

Villa looked for a swift response but Watkins was unable to get a shot away after being released by Konsa’s pass. Then it was over. Torres got away with one poor pass out of defence but not the second as Sarr pounced and again drove forward. This time it was Richarlison, introduced earlier for a visibly unhappy Son, who supplied the pass for Solanke to tap home.

Emery introduced Leon Bailey, Jaden Philogene and Boubacar Kamara but Villa could find no way back, Maddison instead increasing the misery with a superbly executed free-kick,

Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez, Cash (Carlos 60), Konsa, Torres, Digne, Onana, Tielemans (Kamara 81), McGinn (Bailey 80), Rogers (Duran 69), Ramsey (Philogene 81), Watkins Subs not used: Maatsen, Mings, Buendia, Olsen (gk).