Aston Villa opened their Premier League campaign with a spirited performance away from home against the Champions League finalists.
Jack Grealish has admitted on Twitter that he is gutted that Aston Villa opened their Premier League campaign with a defeat to Tottenham on Saturday, insisting that he felt that Dean Smith’s men could have got something from the game.
There was plenty of intrigue surrounding the Villans heading into the game with Mauricio Pochettino’s side after they made a raft of signings and proved to be one of the Premier League’s biggest spenders over the summer.
Smith left a number of the new signings on the bench or out of the team, but it was Villa who struck the first blow as John McGinn produced a brilliantly-composed finish to break the deadlock in the ninth minute.
And for a long time, it looked that Villa may hold out for an outstanding three points with Tyrone Mings, Bjorn Engels and Tom Heaton all producing big performances to keep Spurs at bay until the final 20 minutes.
Tanguy Ndombele produced an outstanding finish to level the scores before Harry Kane bagged a brace to ensure that Spurs won 3-1. Villa may have left with no points, but Smith is not going to struggle to find positives from the game.
Nevertheless, Grealish took to social media to admit that it was difficult to accept the result having come close to producing a brilliant win – while he also expressed excitement for next weekend’s home game against Bournemouth.
Here is Grealish’s message after the game…
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
