Dier's absence
Ryan Mason had a rather simple decision in terms of his Tottenham team following last weekend's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. Certainly not the prettiest of performances but one that got the job done, it made sense to keep faith with the same XI for the crucial game at Aston Villa.
There was one notable alteration on the bench, however, as Eric Dier missed out on the squad completely. Previously a regular in the Tottenham XI, the England international was left out of the side against the Eagles after some poor performances leading up to the game as Mason shuffled his pack in his quest to find his answer to Spurs' defensive woes.
The reason for Dier's absence in the Midlands was down to injury, with youngster Matthew Craig the player to come into the squad in his place. Fellow academy player Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was the 21st man on the day just in case of any further injuries to the squad ahead of kick-off as Japhet Tanganga missed out altogether.
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Another nightmare start
A huge game for both sides in the race for a European place, the last thing Tottenham needed to do was concede early and give their rivals a huge boost in the process. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened as Jacob Ramsey found the bottom corner with a low drive after only eight minutes.
It wasn't a good goal to concede at all from a Tottenham perspective as the hosts easily found a way through them and it culminated in the Villa midfielder racing into the area to finish off Leon Bailey's pass. It perhaps wasn't a surprise at all to the Tottenham fans who had made the journey to the Midlands after nightmare starts in their previous two away games.
Conceding after a minute in their recent showdown at St James' Park as Newcastle went on to hit them for six, a week later the Lilywhites found themselves three goals down after 15 minutes against Liverpool following Curtis Jones' opener three minutes in. Three away games in a row Tottenham have now conceded first with barely any time on the clock and it has given them so much to do in games as a result.
Tottenham must find a way of stopping it and fast.
Levy sent message
Tottenham fans once again made their feelings crystal clear when it comes to Daniel Levy. Calling for the chairman to exit the club on a regular basis at home and away games, this time the travelling faithful at Villa Park sent a strong message as soon as the referee's whistle sounded for kick-off.
The chants for Levy to go have been very early in games recently but certainly not seconds into the match as was the case on Saturday at Villa Park. The news on Friday evening that the club are not considering Julian Nagelsmann for the Spurs head coach vacancy and that they have not and do not intend to meet with the German went down like a lead balloon.
Seen as the standout candidate for the position and ticking so many boxes for the club, fans did not take well at all to the club's decision over Nagelsmann. It has only in turn increased the already intense pressure on Levy's shoulders to get the decision right.
Bissouma impact
Returning to the matchday squad last weekend for the first time since February, Yves Bissouma made his long-awaited comeback on the hour mark at Villa Park. Needing to change something with Tottenham trailing and needing to force a way back into the game, the Mali international and Dejan Kulusevski came on for Oliver Skipp and Richarlison.
The duo made an instant impact on proceedings as they both played their part down the right flank as Spurs won a questionable free-kick after Bissouma had slipped when challenging Ramsey. Seconds later the summer signing got on the ball and released Son Heung-min with a lovely through ball that split the Villa defence, only for the offside flag to go up against the South Korean.
Far from seeing the best of Bissouma since his transfer from Brighton & Hove Albion, the highly-rated midfielder added some much-needed energy to the Tottenham team as he looked to impact proceedings. Bissouma looked more like his old self and the player who wowed at Brighton rather than the one Tottenham fans have seen so far. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come.
Those offsides
A rather common theme for Tottenham in Saturday's defeat against Aston Villa was the sight of the offside flag. In total, Spurs were flagged offside nine times compared to Villa's two.
The linesman raising his flag time and time again must have left Mason extremely frustrated, just as it did the fans watching on from the away end. Although Spurs did not threaten Emi Martinez at all in the first half, the high line played by Aston Villa's defence gave the visitors plenty of openings.
The timing of their runs just had to be spot on, as did the weight of the through ball. Unfortunately for Spurs it was the timing of the runs that proved extremely troublesome.
The most notable one in the first half saw Son race through clear on goal but he struck the post after trying to round the home goalkeeper. Poor on the attacker's part as he was all alone and had plenty of time and space to execute his finish, it also showed that Son didn't have to make his run so early as his pace always gave him a huge advantage over the Villa defence due to the high line they played.
Son was flagged offside a total of four times across the 90 minutes, with his last one coming after he had collected Cristian Romero's pass in stoppage time to slot beyond Martinez but he had again made his move too early. Richarlison was another who was flagged offside on two occasions in his hour on the pitch.
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