Tottenham Hotspur finally ended their Premier League goal drought against Aston Villa, but the breakthrough came far too late to prevent another damaging defeat for Roberto De Zerbi’s side.

Spurs had failed to score in their opening four league matches and went into the Villa game with only two points from a possible 12. Their barren run reached 485 minutes, the second-longest scoreless start to a Premier League season behind Crystal Palace’s 640-minute drought in 2017-18.

Aston Villa capitalised on Tottenham’s fragility to establish a 3-0 lead. Johan Manzambi opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time on his first Premier League start, finishing after Tottenham captain Micky van de Ven had temporarily left the field for treatment. Nicolas Jackson doubled Villa’s lead in the 67th minute before Emiliano Buendía struck a superb long-range third in the 79th minute.

Tottenham eventually broke through in the 86th minute when Conor Gallagher turned Mohammed Kudus’ delivery over the line from close range. The goal ended the club’s lengthy league drought, but it was only a consolation at that stage.

Jan Paul van Hecke then headed home in the eighth minute of stoppage time to reduce the deficit further, but Villa held on for a 3-2 victory—their first Premier League win of the season.

The match also featured a disallowed Tottenham goal around the hour mark, when Kudus poked home from Andy Robertson’s cross after Sandro Tonali’s pass, only for VAR to rule the move offside.

Despite spending more than £350 million during the summer transfer window, Tottenham remain without a league win after five matches and entered the international break in the relegation zone. Gallagher and Van Hecke are the only Tottenham players to have scored against Premier League opposition this season, underlining the scale of the team’s attacking concerns.