LONDON — Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia inspired Aston Villa’s fightback to win 2-1 against Tottenham yesterday as the north Londoners suffered more misery on home turf.
Rodrigo Bentancur put Thomas Frank’s side ahead early in the first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But Rogers equalised with a superb strike before the interval and Buendia came off the bench to seal the points in the closing stages.
Tottenham’s woeful home form in the Premier League — 11 defeats and just three wins in 18 league games — has proved a major issue for Frank since he replaced the sacked Ange Postecoglou in the close-season.
While the majority of those home losses came under Postecoglou last term, Frank’s short tenure has produced mixed results at the club’s 62,000-seat stadium, with boos audible after a defeat to Bournemouth in August and a 1-1 draw with lowly Wolves last month.
The end of Tottenham’s seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions left them in sixth place after the second defeat in Frank’s eight league games.
“It was exactly the game I expected it to be, very tight. There weren’t too many chances. I think overall it could’ve gone either way,” Frank said.
“I think 1-1 would’ve been a fair result. Villa scored two goals from outside the box in moments where you wouldn’t expect them to score.
“Fair play for their moments of quality. We also easily could have won.”
Villa have responded to their longest winless start to a season since 1964 with five successive victories, three in the top-flight and two in the Europa League, extending their unbeaten streak to eight matches.
It was especially notable that Villa finally beat a top-four rival away from home after taking just one point from their six trips last season to the English sides currently in the Champions League.
Unai Emery’s team are up to 10th place as they try to climb back into the race for Champions League qualification.
“The way the players responded, even when we were losing 1-0, this is the way we are trying to get better at and try to build the team with this structure,” Emery said.
“Most importantly we are recovering some players. The dressing room is different now.”
Rogers rocket
Already without James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma, Destiny Udogie and Dominic Solanke due to fitness issues, Frank lost captain Cristian Romero to an injury in the pre-match warm-up.
Despite that blow, Tottenham needed just five minutes to take the lead.
Mohammed Kudus’s cross was headed back across goal by Micky van de Ven towards Bentancur, who dispatched a clinical finish past Emiliano Martinez from eight yards.
Bentancur celebrated by shoving the ball under his shirt to create a bump in tribute to his wife, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child.
Tottenham forward Wilson Odobert threatened with a low shot that Martinez palmed away in the driving rain.
But Rogers hauled Villa level in spectacular fashion after 37 minutes.
