(Credit: Imago)

Jacob Raw

Sun 3 May 2026 21:30, UK

Aston Villa had multiple players who failed to show any fight in the 2-1 loss to Tottenham, and fans rightfully felt furious.

The Villans hosted Spurs at Villa Park, in what should have been a comfortable 18th Premier League win of the season, but instead, it was a third straight loss in all competitions.

The timing isn’t great for Unai Emery‘s men, and though the Villa boss’s decision to rotate the side was understandable, some of the players truly failed him.

Villa have the fourth-best home record in the top-flight, and none of it was on display against Tottenham, who have just won only their second game in 2026.

Emery should have an easy team selection for the Europa League semi-final second leg against Nottingham Forest, as players who needed to didn’t take their chances at all.

Darren Fletcher couldn’t believe the atmosphere at Villa Park

Villa showed some improvement against Nottingham Forest in the second half, but Emery saw none of that from some of his bench options, who were given a generous runout versus Tottenham.

The likes of Victor Lindelof, Ian Maatsen, Lamare Bogarde, Ross Barkley, and Tammy Abraham were all given rare starts, and failed to make an impact.

The first half was the worst of the two 45’s, and had Villa Park booing their players off at the break. Tottenham had 62 per cent possession, which, to put it into context, Villa averaged 53.5 per cent possession in the Premier League this season before this game started.

Speaking on TNT Sports, commentator Darren Fletcher couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing at Villa Park.

Fletcher said: “I’ve never seen this. I haven’t heard the Villa Park crowd like this. I think it’s the perceived lack of effort that the fans are seeing.

“I’m astonished, there are players that could play their way into a big European semi-final next Thursday, but they look like they don’t want to be out there.”

Villa created 0.00 xG in the first 45, and things didn’t exactly get any better in the second half either.

It was the first time that Spurs had taken a two-goal lead in a Premier League game since the sixth of December, which proves just how right Fletcher was on the matter.

Who failed their audition for Unai Emery?

Barkley had a very poor outing for Villa and was a reason for the Villans’ almost breaking unwanted history under Emery.

Until the loss to Spurs, Villa had never gone an entire game without a shot on target under Emery, and with Barkley trying to pull the strings, that streak was almost broken before being saved by Emi Buendia’s late header.

He was taken off in the 85th minute, after losing all nine of his ground duels, truly awful.

Ian Maatsen won’t get away without criticism either, as the left-back completed 0 per cent of his three dribble attempts while winning 11 per cent of his ground duels. He’s supposed to be a defender, but he can’t defend.

However, many players have surely had their final chance to impress Emery now.