Paul MacInnes was our man at the match. Here’s his report, hot off the press. Thanks for reading this MBM.
FULL TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Aston Villa
Villa were probably the better side in the first half. But they sat back after that, and Spurs were definitely the better side in the second. A deserved win in the end, though Spurs had to graft for it. A harsh lesson for the Premier League new boys, who will surely take heart from a brave display once the sting of defeat subsides. Meanwhile Spurs have served notice that they’re determined to come again after last season’s near misses.
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90 min +2: Skipp comes on for Ndombele, who has made plenty of new friends tonight. McGinn drags a shot wide right, a sorry end to a rare second-half Villa attack.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Aston Villa (Kane 90)
Sissoko bursts past a few static Villa players in the midfield. They are spent. He reaches the edge of the box and slides a pass to Kane on his left. Kane fizzes a shot past Heaton and into the bottom right. What a turnaround!
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89 min: Moura drives down the right, Villa’s ragged defence backpedalling in panic. He slashes a shot wide of goal.
88 min: Nkoudou comes on for Lamela, whose persistence looks to have won all three points for Spurs. He takes his own sweet time to depart, and is booked for his trouble.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Aston Villa (Kane 86)
Grealish dawdles with the ball just outside his own area. He’s robbed by Lamela, nipping in from behind. He tries to nick a clever pass between Mings and Engels. It pinballs off both hapless defenders and lands at the feet of Kane, who lashes home from the penalty spot! It had been coming.
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85 min: Quite a few Villa players look exhausted. They’re making no effort to chase loose balls, opting instead to keep their shape.
84 min: Eriksen is sent scampering down the middle by a cute Moura reverse pass. He slips the ball wide right for Sissoko, whose low shot is deflected out for yet another corner. Villa haven’t had one yet. Anyway, they deal with this one easily enough.
82 min: Douglas Luiz, another Villa debutant, comes on for Hourihane.
80 min: Another Spurs corner on the right. The ball’s worked to Alderweireld, who shoots from the edge of the box. The ball strikes the arm of Kodjia, who has just come on for Wesley. Too close for a penalty to be given, even after a pernickety VAR check.
79 min: Ndombele juggles the ball down the left and hooks into the mixer. Sanchez goes for a spectacular overhead with Moura better placed. Villa are hanging on now.
78 min: Eriksen whips the free kick between McGinn and Hourihane in the Villa wall, and towards the top left. Heaton adds another glorious save to his portfolio, tipping round the post at full stretch.
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77 min: Rose tries to work a little space on the edge of the Villa D. He’s clumsily clattered by Jota, and this is a free kick in extremely dangerous territory. Eriksen’s eyes are shimmering right now.
75 min: Poor Heaton, who had made such a fine save. But what a goal by Ndombele ... who was about to be hooked! He’s not getting subbed now.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Aston Villa (Ndombele 73)
A sensational strike by Tottenham’s new man! The corner’s worked to Eriksen on the right wing. He crosses. Sanchez flashes the ball goalwards from six yards. Heaton saves spectacularly in the Pele-Banks style. But it’s all for nothing, as the ball is recycled, and laid off to Ndombele, who curls an unstoppable shot into the bottom right from 25 yards! Unstoppable!
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72 min: Wesley looks tired. He cheaply presents the ball to Sissoko, 30 yards from his own goal. Sissoko bursts down the right and earns Tottenham’s tenth corner of the evening. From which ...
71 min: Eriksen sashays down the left and stands one up into the middle. Lamela can’t get a head on the cross, and Heaton claims. This is a staunch defensive display by Villa, who have been stuck in their final third for most of this second half.
69 min: Kane again bustles towards the Villa back line, this time down the left. The ball’s pulled back for Eriksen, who rushes in and snatches at his shot, which flies harmlessly wide left by some distance.
67 min: Spurs are turning up the pressure, though. A long ball down the middle. Kane is lurking, but Heaton races from his area to head clear. Problem is, the ball flies straight to Lamela, who looks to return it into the empty net from 40 yards. His shot is on target, but weak, and easily blocked by the covering Mings.
66 min: Kane bombs in from the left and shoots low. His effort is deflected wide left. Eriksen’s corner isn’t all that. Grealish romps off with the ball and is tugged back by Rose. No free kick, much to Grealish’s annoyance. Lamela fizzes in a cross from the wing that’s snaffled by Heaton. Probably just as well the keeper got that one.
64 min: Walker-Peters shoots from distance. Deflected. Corner. Before it can be taken, Eriksen comes on for Winks. Then Lamela’s corner is flicked over the bar by Alderweireld, stealing in at the near post and heading just off target. As close as Spurs have come.
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63 min: A bit scrappy, all of a sudden. Villa won’t mind this at all, the scoreline being as it is. On the touchline, Christian Eriksen, warming up, is called back to the dugout.
61 min: McGinn and Walker-Peters tangle in the midfield. Walker-Peters sits on the ball. McGinn tries to toe-poke it clear. It inevitably ends in a shoving match, one that Walker-Peters is much more willing to entertain than McGinn, who can’t be bothered. The ref comes across to calm everyone down. A quick check with VAR, because that’s what happens these days, reveals nothing. We play on.
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59 min: Jota, formerly of Birmingham City, comes on for his Villa debut. He replaces Trezeguet.
58 min: Ndombele has a whack from the best part of 30 yards. Nope.
57 min: Kane works some space out on the right, and sends a low cross into the mixer. Engels, with his back to goal, spins in midair to acrobatically hook clear. That’s fine defending.
55 min: Kane comes again, barrelling down the inside-left channel and taking a shot that’s deflected out for a corner. One corner leads to another, and the second’s cleared by Engels.
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53 min: Winks dinks into the Villa box from the right. Kane meets the ball with a weak header. Villa clear their lines easily.
52 min: McGinn nicks the ball off Winks and bursts into the Spurs box down the right. Sanchez comes over to cover. McGinn loses the run of his feet and stumbles to the ground. There are cries for a penalty - and VAR is checked - but McGinn makes no claim. He quite clearly tells Winks that he fell under his own steam. Which is honest of him, because he did get a clank in the back from Sanchez, who was busy falling over himself. Other players might have argued the toss, because you’ve seen them given.
50 min: Oh my goodness, Spurs should be level. Lamela crosses from the left. It’s deep. Ndombele might get a gentle flick on, he might not. Either way, his presence attracts all of Villa’s defenders, and the ball drops to Sissoko, in acres just to the right of the six-yard box. He sends the ball fizzing across the face of goal. Neither a shot nor a cross. What a waste.
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48 min: Sissoko earns a corner on the right. Lamela loops it in, and Mings bashes a header clear. Spurs have clearly had a talking-to at half-time. They’re a little sharper into their challenges.
47 min: Villa definitely need to work on those kick-offs.
Spurs get the second half underway. And for the second time today, Villa nearly concede straight from kick-off! Alderweireld launches a pass down the inside-left channel that releases Lamela into the box. He chests down but can’t get a shot away. Nor can he find Kane in the middle. Sissoko tries to keep the move going, but Engels hoicks clear with Lamela trying to make good.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Aston Villa
Spurs have had the lion’s share of possession, but so blunt up front. Villa could easily have scored three or four. They’ve been blistering on the counter. This is poised deliciously. It’s been good fun, this. “Spurs are flashy on the approach but can’t convert,” argues Mary Waltz. “Villa have had multiple chances to double their lead and if Spurs don’t tighten up their back line a massive upset is coming down the road.”
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45 min +1: Lamela sends Kane clear with a defence-splitter down the middle! Kane reaches the edge of the Villa box, draws Heaton and ... pulls his shot wide right. Another glorious opportunity given up by Tottenham’s talisman.
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45 min: Walker-Peters drives down the right yet again. He pulls the ball back for Ndombele, who chips delicately towards Kane, rising six yards from goal. It’s a lovely ball, and Kane surely has to score. But he sends his header inches over the bar. That’s a poor miss.
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43 min: El Ghazi has a speculative effort from a good distance out on the left. It’s on target, heading towards the bottom left, but Lloris would have been a miserable figure had he let that trickler in. France’s World Cup winning captain claims.
41 min: Walker-Peters has been doing his bit out on the right. He wins yet another corner. But his team-mates aren’t backing him up. Lamela’s poor delivery is latched onto by Grealish, who sprays a ball wide left, setting Trezeguet off on the charge. Fortunately for Spurs, Winks was alive to the danger of the quick-break, and slides in to claim the ball. A quite brilliant challenge from Tottenham’s best player in the Champions League final.
39 min: Winks has a shot from 25 yards. He drags the ball across the face of goal, left to right, and harmlessly out for a goal kick. In the dugout, Mauricio Pochettino is a picture of frustration, sitting back in his chair and grumbling quite a lot.
38 min: Sissoko tries to dribble his way past Taylor, just inside the Villa box with the away team pinned back. He’s got options in the middle, but Taylor wins the duel. Another groan from the home fans. It’s the travelling faithful making all the noise right now.
36 min: McGinn earns a free kick out on the right. With Spurs expecting direct action, the ball’s sent out to Trezeguet on the other flank. The winger crosses and Wesley flashes a header towards the bottom left. But there’s no power there. Lloris gathers.
34 min: Kane cuts in from the left and larrups a shot across Heaton and over the bar in the old-fashioned bustling style. It’s as close as Spurs have come to an equaliser.
32 min: Another corner for Spurs, Walker-Peters dribbling down the right and winning it off Taylor. But from the set piece, Lamela gives up possession with risible ease, and suddenly Grealish is burning up the left wing at great pace. He cuts infield then plays a reverse pass down the inside left to release Trezeguet into the box. It should be a goal, but for the second time today the winger hesitates and wastes the opportunity. He eventually sends a weak effort into the arms of Lloris.
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31 min: The perpetually busy Winks drops deep and pings a diagonal right-to-left ball towards Kane. Engels is forced to head behind for a corner. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece, and the crowd let out an anguished cry in frustration.
30 min: Hourihane hacks the free kick straight at Lamela, the first man, allowing Spurs to clear. Very poor.
29 min: Space for El Ghazi on the left. He fires it in low. Alderweireld is forced to hack clear under pressure from Wesley. El Ghazi comes again and goes over Sissoko’s hanging leg. A cheap free kick purchased there, in a dangerous position, just to the side of the box.
27 min: Trezeguet belts down the right, the boss of Rose, and at high speed whips a deep cross that isn’t a million miles away from El Ghazi, coming in from the other wing. Not quite. But Villa look really lively in attack now. And they’re easy on the eye.
26 min: Ndombele strips Hourihane near the Villa box. Nice work, but then he seems caught between shooting and threading a pass through a gap for Kane. The ball dribbles through to Heaton.
24 min: Walker-Peters wins a corner down the right. The set piece is hit too long, but Rose is able to have another go from the other wing. That one’s easily cleared. A slight amount of agitation is already surfacing in Tottenham’s play. It’s much too early to panic.
23 min: El Ghazi drives at Spurs down the left. He looks to have been brought down by Sissoko, but the referee weirdly gives the foul to Spurs. On the touchline, Dean Smith gesticulates in disgust, and his player’s not too happy about the decision either.
21 min: McGinn, dropping deep, slides a sensational defence-splitting pass down the inside-right channel for Trezeguet. The winger strides into the box, drops a shoulder, and shapes to curl one into the bottom left. But he dawdles, allowing a combination of Sanchez and Alderweireld to block. That could easily have been 2-0. It probably should have been. It was a lovely pass by McGinn.
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19 min: Trezeguet slips away from Ndombele with ease, and tears off down the right. He slips inside for Wesley, who should shuttle the ball on towards El Ghazi, clear on the left. But Spurs - and their new midfield man - are let off the hook when Wesley checks, turns the other way, and picks the wrong pass. Worrying gaps at the back for Spurs.
17 min: Walker-Peters whips a glorious cross in from the right. Lamela is this close to running in and meeting it with a strong nut. But he’s inches away and it’s Mings who heads instead, clearing for Villa.
16 min: A bit of treatment for the goalscorer McGinn, who nearly knacked himself while challenging Winks in an overly aggressive and clumsy manner. But it looks like he’s good to continue.
14 min: Ndombele nearly dribbles clear down the left, but Hourihane does extremely well to stick to him like glue and usher him out of play. Villa are growing in confidence, understandably so.
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13 min: Spurs try a route-one move of their own. Alderweireld strokes a long pass down the middle. Kane nips ahead of a spinning Mings, but can’t take the ball under control and it zips through to Heaton. Nearly, though.
11 min: It would be fair to say that the goal came against the run of play. The Villa fans strike up a comic rendition of We’re Gonna Win The League.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Aston Villa (McGinn 9)
... Villa go straight up the other end and score the opener! Mings, out on the left, passes long down the middle. McGinn is immediately clear of Sanchez, who is woefully out of position. Rose tries to catch him, and slides across, but McGinn drops a shoulder to send him skidding away in the wrong direction. Then he slams clinically past Lloris into the bottom right!
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8 min: Lamela decides to go straight for goal. He’s looking to whip the ball across Heaton and into the top left, but succeeds only in hoicking it over the crossbar. Bad move, because ...
7 min: Taylor bowls Walker-Peters to the ground near the corner flag on the right. A panicked and utterly needless challenge. A free kick in a dangerous position. Spurs load the box.
6 min: Spurs continue to push Villa back. Lamela nearly tears clear on the left, but Engels is across to hack clear. It’s a fast start from the hosts, a sluggish one from newly promoted Villa.
5 min: A huge chance for Spurs to open the scoring. Rose crosses from the left. Mings and Taylor are miles apart, and Moura is gifted a free header on the penalty spot. He really should score, but his downward effort is too close to Heaton and smothered.
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3 min: Alderweireld, quarterbacking from deep, launches a long ball down the left for Rose, who plays it first time but only succeeds in looping into the arms of Heaton.
2 min: Villa still haven’t had much of a touch. A bit shaken after that early scare.
And we’re off! And it’s nearly a farcical return to the top tier for Villa. Elmohamady immediately gives up possession out on the Villa right. Moura scampers off with the ball, cuts in from the wing, and lashes over the bar while looking for the top right. That one would have been timed at 16 seconds.
But before the game starts, there’s time for a minute of warm applause in loving memory of Justin Edinburgh. The Leyton Orient manager passed away suddenly in June. He spent the majority of his playing career at Spurs, and everyone in the ground pays their respect.
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The teams are out! A magnificent atmosphere at Tottenham’s gorgeous new stadium. Last year’s Champions League finalists are in their famous lilywhite, while the Championship play-off winners sport their traditional claret and blue. We’ll be off before you know it!
Dean Smith speaks! “The performances in pre-season have been good. A lot has been made about the amount of players we’ve brought in, but if you look at three of the back four today played the last 15 games of last season, and only conceded ten goals. The midfield three were the three that played at Wembley. El Ghazi was in the team already. We feel we deserve to be here, and are excited about the challenges ahead.”
Mauricio Pochettino meanwhile fends off questions about the absent Jan Vertonghen and the benched Christian Eriksen. An insouciant shrug in word form. He doesn’t care for the subject at all.
This is the first Saturday night match on Sky Sports under the new TV contract. They were always bound to come up with some wholly unnecessary innovation to celebrate the occasion, and what they’ve unveiled is just asking for trouble. During the pre-match warm-up, pundit Jamie Redknapp wandered into the middle of the pitch, right among the players pinging passes this way and that. He’s out there ostensibly to “take a closer look” at Tanguy Ndombele, though why is not clear, because he then starts yammering on about clips he’s already seen of the player. It’s hard completely to concentrate on what he’s saying, because you’re waiting for a ball to hit him flush in his startled grid. It doesn’t happen tonight, but give it time. If they keep this feature going, such slapstick is grimly inevitable.
Tottenham’s new midfielder Tanguy Ndombele does indeed make his debut this evening. However, the other big purchases, Giovani lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon, don’t feature at all. Christian Eriksen is only on the bench. Jan Vertonghen is out injured.
Meanwhile it’s all change for Aston Villa. They unveil keeper Tom Heaton, attackers Wesley and Trezeguet, and defender Bjorn Engels. Tyrone Mings and Anwar El Ghazi also make their first starts as full-time Villa players.
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The teams
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Walker-Peters, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Rose, Sissoko, Winks, Ndombele, Lamela, Kane, Lucas Moura.
Subs: Wanyama, Nkoudou, Dier, Gazzaniga, Eriksen, Aurier, Skipp.
Aston Villa: Heaton, Elmohamady, Mings, Engels, Taylor, McGinn, Hourihane, Trezeguet, Grealish, El Ghazi, Wesley.
Subs: Douglas Luiz, Lansbury, Steer, Konsa, Targett, Jota, Kodjia.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).
Preamble
Aston Villa are back! After three years in the wilderness, the seven-time champions of England and erstwhile conquerors of Europe are back! Tottenham Hotspur have missed them madly, as well ... on account of having won nine of their last ten games against them.
History may only provide so much of a guide, though, because both teams have moved on since we last saw them. Spurs, unchanged for a couple of transfer windows, could finally shoogle things up this evening by giving their new signings Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso a debut at their fancy new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They’ll also be without the injured Dele Alli and the suspended Heung-min Son. And will they suffer a hangover from the bitter disappointment of Madrid? Ah, variables, old friend, it’s been a while round these parts.
Villa meanwhile have gone to town in the transfer market since reclaiming their top-flight status in the play-off final against Derby. Eleven new signings! Trezeguet and Wesley are the big hopes up front; Tyrone Mings and Matt Targett have been secured at the back. But perhaps most importantly, they’ve managed to keep hold of Jack Grealish during the Championship years, and now have a midfielder beginning to realise his vast potential. Dean Smith has promised his side will go for it this season; consolidation is not their only goal.
So both sets of fans have plenty to get excited about. Spurs - long established now as one of the best teams in Europe - are naturally big favourites against a newly promoted team that will need time to gel. But Villa have won their last three opening fixtures in the Premier League - at Arsenal, Stoke and Bournemouth - and will treat this match as a free shot. With so many new faces likely to be on show, it’s sure to be fascinating. Here’s to exciting and dramatic as well. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm BST.
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