Bjorn Engels went from villain to hero and back again after he gifted Heung-min Son a stoppage time winner as Tottenham beat Aston Villa 3-2 in a Premier League thriller.
After Toby Alderweireld had found the net at both ends, Engels’ up and down afternoon saw him give away a penalty, make amends by scoring his first goal for the club, only to cost his side a point with a shocking error late on.
Ben Davies returned from injury to start for the first time since Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge, while Villa were without England centre-half Tyrone Mings through tonsillitis.
Villa flew out of the blocks, with Jack Grealish giving Serge Aurier all kinds of problems on the left, but it was a cross from Anwar El Ghazi on the right that gave the hosts the lead in comical fashion as Alderweireld hesitated before toeing past his own goalkeeper.
Dean Smith’s men missed a host of chances to double their lead, Douglas Luiz seeing his effort blocked on the line by Davies after Grealish’s clever cut-back, before the Villa skipper wasted a decent opening by trying to pick out Samatta in the middle when he might have gone alone.
Spurs’ leveller, and Alderweireld’s redemption, was almost as freak as the game’s first goal, the Belgian reacting fastest to a fortuitous deflection off the heel of Eric Dier to fire a stunning swivelled half-volley past Pepe Reina from a tight angle.
The chances kept coming, Alli twice having efforts blocked at close quarters, while Davies had to make another crucial clearance from underneath his own crossbar.
As the interval approached, Steven Bergwijn’s pace came to the fore as Engels found himself caught the wrong side of the Dutchman and though Martin Atkinson was initially happy with his desperate sliding tackle, VAR overruled and awraded a spot kick. Up stepped Son, to be denied in the first instance by penalty specialist Reina, but fastest to the rebound to give the visitors a half-time lead.
Less than ten minutes into the half, it was Engels’ turn to make up for a goal-costing error as he rose brilliantly to nod home from Grealish’s corner and make it 2-2.
Spurs looked the more likely to find a winner. Son tested Reina after a glorious first-touch nutmeg on Engels, while substitute Marvellous Nakamba made a terrific sliding block to deny Bergwijn and Ezri Konsa recovered well to thwart Alli again.
But as the clock into the last of four added minutes, Engels allowed a simple ball to squirm under his foot, sending Son clear to steal it.
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