Villa stun Spurs; Forest hold Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of regaining their place in the Premier League's top four were scuppered as they suffered a demoralising 2-0 home defeat against Aston Villa on Sunday. Without the injured Dejan Kulusevski, Antonio Conte's lacklustre side were devoid of inspiration with his replacement Bryan Gil given little chance to shine having been handed his first Premier League start. Villa then punished Tottenham's porous defence after the break with goals from Emiliano Buendia and Douglas Luiz. Tottenham's France keeper Hugo Lloris, playing his first game since losing the World Cup final, was at fault for Buendia's 50th-minute opener. And when Luiz added a second in the 73rd minute, home fans began streaming towards the exits. Chants against Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy rang out and it could have got worse as Villa sauntered to only a third win in their last 22 Premier League clashes with the Londoners. "I'm sure that if we don't concede the goal, we could win the game instead," Conte said. "The goal that we conceded killed us in confidence. We have to fight and show that we are strong. The league will be very difficult for us." Meanwhile Chelsea dropped more points in their quest to climb back up the Premier League standings as Serge Aurier earned Nottingham Forest a 1-1 draw with Graham Potter's side. Fresh from their first league win in six games last time out against Bournemouth, Chelsea started well in the Nottingham drizzle, with Raheem Sterlng firing them into the lead in the 16th minute. Forest improved after the break and were desperately unlucky not to equalise early in the second half as Morgan Gibbs-White's drilled half volley hit the underside of the crossbar but bounced on the goal line and away. The hosts kept coming and deservedly levelled things up as Aurier fired home in the 63rd minute from a corner and looked the more likely to go on to win the match. Forest could not complete the turnaround with Chelsea hanging on for a point that leaves them eighth in the standings, seven points behind Manchester United in fourth. The hosts remain in the relegation zone but climbed to 18th, level on 14 points with West Ham United above them. (Reuters)