De Zerbi's Tottenham Struggles Deepen After Injury and Late Goal

Tottenham’s afternoon against Aston Villa unravelled long before the half-time whistle – and then got worse in stoppage time.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side, still chasing a first Premier League win of the season, were hit first by injury, then by a familiar psychological blow: conceding the opener and watching the numbers stack up against them.

The first setback came after just 17 minutes. Pedro Porro, usually a relentless presence on the right flank, went down and stayed down, forcing Spurs’ medical team into urgent action. They tried to patch him up, to give him a chance to continue, but the defender’s body said no.

One minute later, the decision was made. Porro trudged off, and Archie Gray was thrown into the game in the 18th minute, an early, unwanted reshuffle for De Zerbi and Tottenham’s first enforced change of the contest.

The disruption set the tone. Spurs pushed, probed, but carried the tension of a team that knows the first goal has been a curse, not a challenge.

That anxiety was punished deep into first-half stoppage time.

At 45+4 minutes, Aston Villa finally pierced them. A mix-up between Tottenham’s defence and goalkeeper opened a gap that should never have appeared at this level. Boubacar Kamara swung a cross into the box, and Youri Manzambi pounced, thundering a finish into the net to give Villa the lead on the stroke of the interval.

The goal did more than tilt the scoreboard. It dragged an ugly statistic back into the spotlight.

According to Squawka, Tottenham have now failed to win any of their last 36 Premier League matches in which they conceded the opening goal. The last time they turned a game around after falling behind in the league came against Aston Villa on 3 November 2024 – a distant memory for a side now locked in a very different struggle.

De Zerbi’s start has been unforgiving. Spurs opened the campaign with defeats to Brentford and Newcastle, then laboured to goalless draws against Nottingham Forest and Everton. The frustration has not been limited to the league either: a 3-1 loss to Liverpool dumped them out of the EFL Cup.

An injury to a key full-back, another soft concession, and a streak that refuses to die. For Tottenham and De Zerbi, the question is no longer just when the first win will come – it’s how long this pattern of fragile starts can be allowed to define their season.