Sometimes it is easy to be led by the scoreboard. This was a pulsating battle between two clubs energised by smart managerial appointments and there is a temptation to argue that the turning point came when Aston Villa somehow went in level at half-time, allowing Unai Emery to bend the game to his will with a double substitution that gave a previously rampant Tottenham Hotspur more questions to answer during the second half.
It was proactive management from Emery, who was too cute to be fooled by Pau Torres hauling Villa level in the seventh minute of added time. Doing nothing would have been complacent. Tottenham had dominated, Giovani Lo Celso putting them ahead, and they could have been out of sight at the end of the first half.
