Tottenham's Premier League collapse deepens as Aston Villa win 3-2, and BBC says it's already their worst start on record

Tottenham Hotspur lost 3-2 at home to Aston Villa on Saturday 19 September 2026 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the result gave their miserable start to the season a historic edge. According to the BBC, the defeat means Roberto De Zerbi's side have now had a worse start than the 2008-09 campaign, previously the club's weakest opening to a Premier League season. Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson and Emiliano Buendía scored to put Villa 3-0 up, and although Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke pulled two goals back late on, it was not enough to prevent Tottenham's third defeat in five league games.

A dominant first half, settled in injury time

Tottenham started the game on top, much as they had against Newcastle, Everton and Liverpool in recent weeks, De Zerbi said afterwards. After 11 minutes, Savio drove into the area from the left and forced two saves out of Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki in the same passage of play, the first blocked and the second tipped over from the rebound. Minutes later, substitute Archie Gray, on for the injured Pedro Porro, saw his effort deflect off Suzuki's own heel and away for a corner.

Villa's opener came from an unlikely sequence. Deep into first-half stoppage time, with defender Micky van de Ven off the pitch receiving treatment for a knock to the head, Andy Robertson tried to keep the ball in near the byline and instead gave it away to John McGinn. Villa's captain found Boubacar Kamara, who slipped in Manzambi, and the summer signing, making his full debut, prodded home from close range. It was 0-1 at the break, a scoreline that flattered Tottenham's dominance.

A disallowed goal, and a response that never quite came

Tottenham had their best chance to level early in the second half. On the hour mark, half-time substitute Mohammed Kudus bundled the ball in from close range, only for VAR to rule out the goal for a marginal offside against Robertson in the build-up, the same Robertson involved in Villa's opener.

Villa doubled their lead in the 67th minute: a long goal-kick from Suzuki found Manzambi, who laid the ball off for Jackson. The Senegal forward took a fine first touch and finished into the corner, giving goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky no chance. Twelve minutes later, Buendia collected a pass from McGinn and curled a shot into the top corner from distance to make it 3-0.

Tottenham only got on the scoresheet four minutes from time: Mohammed Kudus combined with Omar Marmoush, cut inside and squared for Conor Gallagher, on just two minutes earlier, to slide home. Deep into stoppage time, in the 90+8th minute, Van Hecke, the same defender who had needed treatment before Villa's opener, headed home to make it 3-2. According to the BBC, Tottenham were booed off at the final whistle.

Tottenham's worst Premier League start on record, according to the BBC

The BBC described Tottenham as already giving the impression of a club in crisis, despite spending more than £300m on new signings over the summer. The broadcaster said Saturday's defeat means this campaign has already overtaken 2008-09 as the club's weakest opening to a Premier League season, and that Tottenham have now gone 48 games in all competitions without winning any match in which they conceded the first goal.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY afterwards, Roberto De Zerbi tried to put the performance into words: “It's tough to accept. It's tough to understand. It's tough to explain, because I've never seen one team able to play the same game in two different ways. In the first half, what do I have to say? I won many games creating less chances than we created today, and not many times in my career have I conceded the goals we're conceding.”

The numbers back up what was visible on the pitch: Tottenham had almost double Villa's share of possession and eleven corners to one, yet converted far less. Villa sat deep, committed 13 fouls and used Suzuki as an auxiliary passing outlet from the back. The win lifted Emery's side out of the relegation zone and was their first Premier League win of the 2026-27 season.

Emery's rebuilt Villa side takes shape

For Unai Emery, the result carries weight beyond three points. The side that won the Europa League in May has since been broken up, and more than half of Saturday's starting eleven arrived after that trophy was lifted. Suzuki, Manzambi and Jackson, three summer signings, were directly involved in two of the three goals. Emery told VillaTV: “We are delighted with how the players responded on the field with the gameplan we planned... We competed fantastic. We were defending collectively strong in the first half... Progressively we are feeling better, and trying to adapt our new players to the standard and demands we have.”

The result also confirmed a head-to-head record that already favoured Villa. According to the club, it was Villa's eighth win in their last 11 meetings with Tottenham across all competitions, and their fifth win in their last six visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Buendia, who scored the third goal, has now netted in four straight matches against Spurs. Jackson, also on the scoresheet, has 25 goals in the English top flight, and the BBC notes that a fifth of them, five goals, have come against Tottenham alone.

The starting line-ups

Where it leaves the table

The defeat left Tottenham 19th, with 2 points from five games and no wins, ahead only of Fulham. Villa, who had spent weeks in the relegation zone, climbed to 15th on 4 points. The table below shows the top five plus both sides' positions, with Sunday 20 September's fixtures still to be played.

Sam Barrott took charge of the match, in front of 60,920 supporters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Both sides now head into the international break: Villa already know they return at home to Brentford on Saturday 10 October, while Tottenham have a fortnight to try to fix a start to the season that, by the numbers, is already the worst in the club's Premier League history.