Christian Eriksen’s introduction helped Tottenham to 3-1 comeback win in opener

From a position of peril, Tottenham fought back to earn an incredibly important 3-1 win in their season opener against a resilient Aston Villa side. 

Harry Kane bagged his first at the new stadium in the 86th minute from close range and added a second in the 90th minute, securing all three points for a Spurs side who struggled for large periods of the match.

It was the first time Kane has scored in a season opener, already vanquishing talk of an August curse.

Tanguy Ndombele marked his début with a wonderfully struck side footed effort in the 73rd minute to level the score at one.

But it was Christian Eriksen’s second half introduction that turned the tide for the home side. Sure, his first corner once again failed to make it past the first man, but the out-of-favour Dane made an invaluable impact on proceedings.

His creativity and ability to pick a pass against a tiring Villa defence allowed Tottenham to dominate the ball, and all the momentum.

Eriksen also had a marvellous free kick acrobatically saved by Tom Heaton in the 78th minute. As rumours continue to spread of Eriksen’s possible departure, his performance today showed why he’s still so valuable to the side. Without his on-the-ball nous, Spurs, for the most part, lacked the creativity to split Villa apart.

The Lilywhites had 24 shot appearances in the second half, showing a drastic improvement from the first stanza.

Tottenham came out of the gates slowly, lacking sharpness and failing to penetrate Aston Villa for most of the first half. Villa set up like everyone expected, sitting deep and soaking up pressure while making the most of their counter attacks. Villa played the better football in the first stanza, with Mahmoud Ahmed Hassan, known as Trézéguet, Jack Grealish and John McGinn finding some joy on the ball.

Villa opened the scoring in the ninth minute, as a hopeful Deon Mings’ long ball found Danny Rose wanting, whose hesitation allowed McGinn space to run into. Rose then over committed, sliding too soon in his attempt to block McGinn’s effort.  The Villa front man made the most of his chance, his shot fizzling past a helpless Hugo Lloris.

Spurs found it difficult to break Villa down, with most of their passing either lateral or without enough pace. Erik Lamela had a particularly difficult go of it from the off. The Argentine needlessly and repeatedly spurned possession, both with wayward passes and inaccurate or wasteful crosses.

The home side’s best chance fell to Harry Kane in the 45th minute after Tanguy Ndombele’s perfectly weighted dink lob pass found the talisman’s head. Kane didn’t make the contact he would have liked, his header floating over from close range.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side reacted to a dismal first half well. On the front foot for most of the second half. The gaffer slid Moussa Sissoko out to the right and dragged Lamela to the left slightly, a move that was almost immediately rewarded. Sissoko found space at the back post but showed his usual lack of confidence in front of goal, skewing the ball way wide from close range.

While it wasn’t a performance of the ages, Tottenham earned three valuable points which, at this embryonic stage of the season, is all that really matters.