After assisting the opener, Tottenham Hotspur’s mainstay Son Hueng-min delivered a sharp cross to force Villa into an own goal on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The hosts defeated Aston Villa 2-1. 

Spur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg opened his team’s account in the 27th minute. His strike was then equalised by Ollie Watkins in 71st minute, soon after which an own goal by Matt Targett sealed the game for the Lilywhites. For Tottenham this win comes after three consecutive losses in the English top-flight by an aggregate score of 9-1.

However, Spurs star Harry Kane remained goalless. The 28-year-old not scored in the current season. On Sunday, he squandered a number of good chances and has now gone six league games without a goal for the first time since 2015.

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Kane nearly broke his drought in spectacular style as he sent a quickly taken free-kick from near the halfway line towards goal, but scrambling goalkeeper Emi Martinez was able to get back and save it.

Hojbjerg won the ball back high up the pitch and played in Son Heung-min. The South Korean returned the ball to the midfielder, who picked out the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Villa were lucky to be still in the game and in the 67th minute drew level. A slick move saw the ball played out to Targett on the left and his ball across the face of goal was tucked home by Watkins from close range.

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Three minutes later Spurs were back in front.

Sergio Reguilon set Son free down the left and he squared the ball across goal that was turned into his own net by Targett under pressure from Lucas Moura.

Tottenham has 12 points from seven games, two more than Villa.

Tottenham forward Son Heung-min, speaking to Sky Sports said, “This win brings us a lot of good energy and the way we played today was different. We needed that especially before the international break. It is a good feeling to win this game and go away.

“We tried to play more, that is more different to a couple of weeks ago. We played without fear and we enjoyed it even when we lost the ball. The last three games were defeats we did not want and the confidence went down but we can bounce back and go back up,” he added. 

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 “Good, good, good. We needed a win but a well-deserved win. We did a good match against tough opponents. Important for us, the boys and the fans. We reacted well after conceding and positive in a lot of ways. The boys did well. Villa are a very good team with the press so it was about taking risks. Our front three were always in the middle. They played well,” Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo told Sky Sports. 

With inputs from the Associated Press