Tottenham’s New Year got off to the worst possible start with a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League. Spurs looked lifeless and went from bad to worse as the game progressed with the Lillywhites now needing a response against Crystal Palace.
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris spilled a shot from Douglas Luiz which allowed Emi Buendía to pounce and give Villa the lead at a time the game was perfectly balanced.
Tottenham then tried to look for a response, just as they had done for their last nine games- but it was Villa who took advantage of their desire to get back into the game with a well crafted goal that saw Douglas Luiz finish impressively off impressive to seal the win.
Unai Emery has never lost a game to Tottenham and there was a feeling thatches was always going to be a tough one but not even win would have seen the dominated display fromhis side. They looked well drilled and just cut off the channels which Tottenham are normally so good at running into.
The result ends a run of nine games where Tottenham have always conceded the first goal but find a way back to earn something from it. Injury to Dejan Kulusevski just hours to the game would have disrupted plans but there is no hiding from the fact Spurs were quite poor here.
Here is how we rated every Tottenham player out there today.
5. Bryan Gil
One thing about Gil is that he just never hides and never stops attempting to take on his man, I would say he had a decent game-5 | Getty Images
6. Yves Bissouma
Kept the ball ticking. Great positional sense but has to do move to effect the game-5 | Getty Images
7. Ivan Perisic
The wing-back just never stops running and was the brightest of all Spurs players out there-6 | Getty Images
8. Harry Kane
Had his goal bound effort cleared off by the header of Ashley Young. Looked sharp again but the lack of chances are costing him-5 | Getty Images