Aston Villa 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur: Player Ratings 10 August 2019

Oh, so close to a result. Aston Villa fell to Tottenham in the Premier League’s opening weekend of fixtures. Here are the ratings.

It was a euphoric opening return to England’s top flight, when, inside ten minutes, John McGinn latched onto a Tyrone Mings long-ball through the heart of Spurs’ defense. New signing Wesley Moraes bullied Davinson Sanchez away from play, allowing McGinn to collect, and slot past World Cup winner Hugo Lloris.

For the next sixty minutes, Villa fought tooth and nail to keep one of the best teams at bay. It was not to be, however, as quality shined through when Christian Eriksen entered the match, Tanguy Ndombele scored a screamer, and Harry Kane finished two very good chances.

Here are the ratings:

8.5. Amazing debut for Tom Heaton in a different claret and blue kit. He made two tremendous saves that kept a possible result attainable. His headed clearance, too, was underrated.. GK. Aston Villa. TOM HEATON

Ahmed Elmohamady’s name was a surprise inclusion to the teamsheet. Most thought Fred Guilbert would start after playing in the 3-1 friendly victory over Red Bull Leipzig. Elmo put in a shift, but it wasn’t enough to impact the match.. RB. Aston Villa. AHMED ELMOHAMADY. 5.0

BJöRN ENGELS. 8.0. Björn Engels had an <em>amazing </em>first-half – among the best I’ve ever seen from a Villa centre-half.. RCB. Aston Villa

LCB. Aston Villa. TYRONE MINGS. 8.5. Equally as immense – Tyrone Mings stole the show with fifteen clearances.

LB. Aston Villa. NEIL TAYLOR. 6.0. The other surprise inclusion, Neil Taylor received the nod ahead of new signing Matt Targett. Taylor, to most everyone’s surprise, held a Tottenham attack at bay for most of the match. He in particular was very strong in 1 v. 1 defending.

Conor Hourihane showed well in his Premier League debut. Like most of the squad he was good/very good in the first-half before tiring after the break. Douglas Luiz replaced him with ten minutes to play.. CDM. Aston Villa. CONOR HOURIHANE. 6.0

7.0. McGinn was amazing in every aspect aside from ball retention, where a 60% passing accuracy stinks. The <strong>goalscorer </strong>produced an excellent finish, nearly drew a penalty, and harassed Spurs’ ball-carrier all afternoon.. CM. Aston Villa. JOHN MCGINN

6.0. Jack is a tough one to grade because he was probably an eight in the first-half and a three in the second-half. So a six makes sense? The Villa captain will learn from his mistake that led to Tottenham’s winning goal.. CM. Aston Villa. JACK GREALISH

7.0. Very, very promising debut from the Egyptian winger. He was clearly gassed by the hour mark, which was a product of his non-stop work rate. Still, the game would have changed had he finished either opportunity in the first-half. He had Harry Winks beat, too, had he flicked the ball over.. RW. Aston Villa. TREZEGUET

The 22-year-old was largely held in check via Toby Alderweireld. Which is okay considering the Belgian is among the world’s finest centre-backs. Villa don’t score unless Wes pulls a defender away, allowing McGinn through on goal.. CF. Aston Villa. WESLEY MORAES. 5.0

ANWAR EL-GHAZI. 5.5. Great first-half, anonymous/poor second-half.. LW. Aston Villa

Jota, Jonathan Kodjia and Douglas Luiz entered the match in the second-half, but could not affect the play.

Bournemouth awaits. UTV.

Home/Analysis