Tottenham

LONDON— Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte claims last year's top-four finish in the Premier League was 'a miracle' and said pre-season expectations of ...

“At the start of the season I was very clear with the club. “This is only to create an illusion and create dreams. That means to have 14 or 15 strong players, quality and the other young players to develop.”

Get a report of the Tottenham Hotspur vs. Aston Villa 2022-23 English Premier League football match.

[Tottenham Hotspur](/football/team?id=367) suffered a blow to their top-four ambitions as they started 2023 with a 2-0 defeat to [Aston Villa](/football/team?id=362) at home. [Robin Olsen](http://www.espn.com/football/player/_/id/178176/robin-olsen), who surprisingly kept his place in the team despite the return of World Cup winner [Emiliano Martinez](http://www.espn.com/football/player/_/id/158626/Emiliano-Martínez), but said the [Argentina](/football/team/_/id/202) international remained his No. We have to fight and show that we are strong. The league will be very difficult for us." [Ashley Young](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/31810/Ashley-Young) was forced into a fine goalline clearance from a [Harry Kane](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/142200/Harry-Kane) header after good work from [Ivan Perisic](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/103485/Ivan-Perisic). [Hugo Lloris](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/43372/Hugo-Lloris)' mistake in the build-up to [Emiliano Buendia](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/214375/Emiliano-Buendía)'s opening goal in the 50th minute set the tone for Tottenham as they conceded first for the 10th game in a row in all competitions.

Hugo Lloris must be sick of the sight of Argentines bearing down on his goal.

The Italian had already warned on Friday to his players that replicating last year’s top-four finish was going to be tougher because of the increased competition. The South Korean had the chance to play Kane through after a neat Spurs move but his pass was way too heavy and the opportunity was gone. Villa’s striker had the presence of mind not to shoot when rounding the keeper from a tight angle but instead to cut it back to Buendia who applied the finish. Kane came the nearest to breaking the deadlock of a drab first half with a header cleared off the line. Doherty scored four goals in three friendlies at the start of last month and came close to a competitive one here in the early stages. He did however quickly get back to what he is best-known for in these parts with bone-crunching challenges on Luiz and Watkins in the first half, the latter of which earned him a yellow card.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte claims last year's top-four finish in the Premier League was 'a miracle' and said pre-season expectations of a title ...

“This is only to create an illusion and create dreams. That means to have 14 or 15 strong players, quality and the other young players to develop.” “At the start of the season I was very clear with the club.

Any New Year's resolution by Tottenham to stop conceding the first goal lasted less than one day as Aston Villa continued its revival under Unai Emery with ...

We have to be humble enough to know that is the challenge we face and we have to do better.” Forest put in a fine second-half display which was rewarded with Serge Aurier’s equalizer just after the hour mark. Lloris was at fault in his first appearance since the World Cup final and Buendia profited. Douglas Luiz doubled the advantage to secure a second consecutive away league victory for midtable Villa, which has won three of its last four league games. Boubacar Kamara won possession from the Spurs forward and John McGinn exchanged passes with Luiz, who poked home. The chance woke up Tottenham with Son Heung-min, who chucked away his protective mask midway through the half, curling a free-kick into the arms of the Swedish goalkeeper soon after.

Here we take a look at how Tottenham's eight loan players are currently getting on away from the club.

[The News](https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/not-a-good-day-at-the-officestandout-playerstruggled-to-get-a-real-foothold-portsmouth-player-ratings-from-3-1-defeat-against-charlton-in-pictures-3971105?page=3), they wrote: "Had one clear cut attempt but struggled to get a real foothold in the game". [Things are now starting to look up for Reguilon](https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/players/tottenham-paratici-reguilon-winks-loan-25226563) after playing 33 minutes of Atletico Madrid's 2-0 win over Elche last Thursday. Ndombele featured heavily as a result and will now be raring to go against Inter Milan on Wednesday evening. He has got a date in mind and I wish his date was the same as mine because if it was he would be playing. “We are hoping for the Huddersfield game and if it is not Huddersfield then it will be the Norwich game. Missing out through illness on Boxing Day away at Exeter City, the 18-year-old was given the final 17 minutes off the bench in their 2-2 draw at home to high-flying Ipswich Town. He is due to be assessed by them in the coming days and if they give him the green light then he can push on. Parrott will be back on the pitch for Preston North End very soon after recovering from the freak hamstring injury he sustained when scoring the winner away at Norwich City in early October. Representing Wales in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Rodon made an early return to France with his country crashing out of the group stage following two defeats from their three games. Tanguy Ndombele was another to play a number of times with Serie A leaders Napoli having plenty of friendlies on the agenda to ensure they are ready to go once league action resumes. Some of Tottenham's loan players have been getting regular minutes on the pitch over the past few weeks despite domestic football pausing for the World Cup in November. Back in training with his teammates midway through the month, the youngster was an unused substitute in their 2-0 friendly win over Lecce before getting 64 minutes in their 3-1 triumph over Cremonese last Thursday.

Chelsea dropped more points in their quest to climb back up the Premier League, while Villa continued their solid run under new boss Unai Emery as they beat ...

Tottenham finally created a chance when Ivan Perisic was played through on goal and forced wide by Olsen. Tottenham’s French keeper Hugo Lloris, playing his first game since losing the World Cup final, was at fault for Buendia’s 50th-minute opener. Lloris failed to gather a shot by Luiz and Ollie Watkins was alert to nip in and pick out Buendia who slotted his shot inside the post to the joy of the Villa fans. The second half we didn’t control it well enough.” Tottenham were booed off at the final whistle as defeat left them in fifth place with 30 points from 17 matches, two points behind Manchester United who have a game in hand and 13 behind local rivals and leaders Arsenal. 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.