"Finished, trophyless club" - Twitter explodes as Tottenham Hotspur suffer damaging 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa

Tottenham Hotspur were stumped by Unai Emery's Aston Villa 2-0 in their New Year's Day Premier League clash at home.

The match started with Villa holding down their defensive line well, which only bore signs of things to come. The visitors were flexible in attack and rigid in defense, which made it rather difficult for Spurs to find their footing and secure a win.

The first big chance came from Emery's men, who broke quickly on an impressive counter-attack, while Tottenham's defense lost a moment's concentration. However, Ollie Watkins, who had the opportunity to open the scoring, could only put it wide of the goal.

Antonio Conte's men then had their big chance, with Harry Kane taking the initiative. The forward's header at goal, however, was cleared off the line by experienced defender Ashley Young.

Eventually, the half-time whistle came with the deadlock unbroken. Spurs were the better attacking team, but they could not break through Villa's rock-solid defense. Their only shot on target, notably, came from Son Heung-min, whose free-kick only went straight to Robin Olsen.

The second half, however, saw Tottenham slump and unable to get up as they sank uncharacteristically to a 2-0 defeat against mid-table Aston Villa.

Tottenham Hotspur are knocked out of top-four after damaging defeat to Aston Villa

Spurs managed to keep hold of a top-four spot since the start of the season, having racked up nine wins and three draws in 17 appearances. However, a dominant Manchester United performance over Wolverhampton Wanderers put the Red Devils in fourth place with a game in hand over Spurs.

Tottenham were expected to secure a win against Villa, as three points would have returned them to the fourth spot in the table. However, the Villans were ruthless in the second half of the clash.

Just four minutes in, Emiliano Buendia opened the scoring after a goalkeeping disaster from Hugo Lloris. The Frenchman guided his country to the FIFA World Cup final with impressive displays in between the sticks. However, he did not provide a similar performance for his club.

A shot from Douglas Luiz was poorly saved by Lloris, and the ball was snatched up by Watkins, who laid it into Buendia to complete their move with a goal.

Their second goal came in the 73rd minute, this time thanks to Douglas Luiz, whose darting movements couldn't be stopped by Spurs defenders. A quick one-two with John McGinn saw the Brazilian midfielder get into the area and his effort beat Lloris to put Aston Villa ahead.

Tottenham Hotspur tried to work on a comeback, but it was already too late, and Emery's game management was already working to good effect. The game eventually ended with Spurs unable to find the net in front of their home fans on New Year's Day. This put fans on Twitter in an uproar with tweets like these:

@SpursOfficial FINISHED TROPHYLESS CLUB🤣🤣🤣

@SpursOfficial Good ebening

I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year. Cheers @SpursOfficial 🥂

Icl Conte is to blame for a lot of this. Spurs squad isn’t even that bad but he chose to play an outdated system that doesn’t cut it in the PL anymore.

#thfc The lack of creativity was utterly predictable when Kulusevski and Bentancur were missing, and you now expect Spurs to concede at least once in every game. They’re going backwards, at a time when rivals for the Champions League are quickly improving.

You go 1-0 down in every game and expect to win matches in the Premier League…

This Spurs toxicity has been building for months, let’s have it right. 🤷🏼‍♂️

#Arsenal will end the day 13 points ahead of Spurs with a game in hand - the biggest lead they've had over their north London rivals since 13th April 2010 (13 points having played a game more).

🇪🇸 Unai Emery is still unbeaten against Spurs. The man absolutely detests them ❤️ https://t.co/NzsTd1Ikim

Man United winning and Man City, Newcastle and Spurs all dropping points. You love to see it😭

🚨🚨| Rival watch: Spurs lose 2-0 to Aston Villa at home and remain 5th in the table.

This Spurs run gives clarity to one thing: Conte isn’t capable of building a title winning side even with mega investment.

Kane has to think about trophies/legacy

Son looks like he’s thinking the same

If they go, what is left? This £250m Conte squad build is b-lister talent

Hey @GNev2 do you still believe Spurs are dark horses for the title?

Spurs have now won only two of their last seven Premier League games.

A tough start to '23 for Tottenham. 😫 https://t.co/UyJqW1YXec

@SpursOfficial Massive changes needed, simply not good enough

Turn off the football and go and enjoy your New Year's Day

Don't take any Spurs fans seriously who are complaining about Levy or lack of investment cos they weren't saying a thing when they were flexing their transfer window on our heads. You think we've forgotten???

Spurs wishing everyone a Happy new year by doing what they do best, we appreciate you 😭

New year, same old Spurs. https://t.co/6FIgpPrwql

The only coach that could have ended Tottenham trophy drought and win them a trophy was sacked less than a week to Carabao cup final. No doubt spurs is cursed

I wish we could play spurs every week…
EASY EASY EASY

Spurs with the first L of 2023 is very fitting for that club

At least Spurs fans got to see Spence play football!

🍷Hugo Lloris has made the same amount of errors leading to goals (3) as any Premier League club this season. #THFC
@OptaAnalyst https://t.co/mjtBDYcWu5

Hugo Lloris blunder as the Frenchman spills a simple save from range that leads to a Villa goal

When Kane goes, Spurs are so so doomed

Tottenham will next face Crystal Palace away on January 4.