Tottenham have four issues to overcome as title aims derailed again in Aston Villa defeat

Tottenham saw their Premier League title aspirations derailed once again on Sunday as they suffered a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Aston Villa. The Lilywhites stormed to the top of the table last month after starting the campaign in formidable form. But after losing to Chelsea and Wolves before the international break, Aston Villa lumped more misery on Ange Postecoglou’s men as Spurs ended the day four points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Giovani Lo Celso was handed his first Premier League start of the Postecoglou era after previously playing less than 45 minutes of top-flight football under the Australian. And he rewarded his manager midway through the first half when he thumped Pedro Porro’s corner into the roof of the net after being left in acres of space on the edge of the penalty area.

Ollie Watkins and Son Heung-min both had goals disallowed for offside in the opening period as the teams attacked at will. And the hosts were unable to take their lead into the interval as Pau Torres drew his side level in stoppage time at the end of the first half as he headed in Douglas Luiz’s free-kick.

Son had two more efforts chalked off for offside after the interval as the home side went in search of their second goal of the showdown. And Watkins proved to be the matchwinner as he swept the ball into the bottom corner just after the hour mark. With Tottenham seemingly in freefall, Express Sport takes a look at four issues facing Postecoglou’s side.

Defensive vulnerabilities

Tottenham’s exhilarating style of play has won them plenty of fans during the early stages of the campaign. But Postecoglou’s insistence on attacking at will means his team constantly leave themselves exposed at the back. The Lilywhites have conceded eight goals in their last three Premier League matches - and that lack of defensive stability will prevent them from winning the title this season.

It doesn’t help that they’re currently missing key centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. But with first-choice right-back Porro guilty of a string of errors against Villa, the team are asking for trouble at the back.

Not clinical enough

Despite scoring 25 Premier League goals this season, Tottenham are just not clinical enough in front of goal. They carved out a hatful of chances against Unai Emery’s men as they pushed forward at every opportunity. But they either missed the target or were denied by Emi Martinez on too many occasions. The teams that will succeed this season are those who make the most of their chances, not the ones who fluff their lines and hope they’ll get more opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net.

Not holding on to leads

Tottenham threw away leads against Chelsea and Wolves earlier this month and ended those games without any points. The Lilywhites also dropped two points after being held to a 2-2 draw by Brentford on the opening weekend of the season following Romero’s opener against the Bees. When Spurs go ahead in matches, they may get better results if they shut up shop and attempt to protect their lead. But that tactic is unlikely to be used by Postecoglou.

Injuries and suspensions

Tottenham are currently missing a whole host of their best players, with the likes of James Maddison, Van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr absent on Sunday through injury. Romero and Yves Bissouma were suspended for the game with the Villans as Postecoglou was forced to improvise with his team selection. And Spurs will surely be unable to get their title challenge back on track in the coming months if they aren’t able to call upon their biggest stars every week.