Emery Details How Villa Hurt Spurs in Premier League 2023 Opener

• Aston Villa won away at Tottenham Hotspur in the first Premier League game of 2023
• The West Midlands club came alive after a dull first half and secured the three points
• Unai Emery has now detailed what his team capitalised on to start the year with a win

The first Premier League game of 2023 had halves which each played about a bit differently. The first 45 was rather quiet, while the second half came alive and culminated in a Villa win.

Tottenham continued their routine of conceding first, dating back to their last 10 games, but despite having won or drawn regularly from this position, they could not stage a comeback today in front of their own fans.

Villa boss Unai Emery has now opened up on what his team did well and what Spurs did not do, which helped them to get their 2023 off to a winning start.

The biggest World Cup snubs: A list of footballers left out of their countries’ World Cup squad

Football

The club has now won its third in four league games under the Spaniard.

Antonio Conte's men dominated possession, but it was the visitors who dominated in other key stats such as tackles, interceptions, clearances, duels won and shots taken.

How Villa beat Spurs

An excited Emery, who became the first Villa boss to win his first two away games since 1998, praised his team's mentality and highlighted Spurs' lack of chances in the first half.

He said this while speaking to BBC Sports, as quoted by Birmingham Live:

''We are so happy. I think we competed very well. We struggled in the first half, but they didn't create many chances. We scored one goal, which gave us confidence to move ahead in our mentality,'' he said.

Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer: Is CR7 leaving Manchester United and which clubs are likely to acquire him?

Football

The UEFA Europa League winner also acknowledged his team's defensive acumen as vital in keeping the likes of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son quiet.

''Not only mentality, you have to defend away usually more than at home. Defensively, we were strong and together. We can be brilliant and then keep possession when we have chances to try to win the match. To try to improve different things tactically, I will do it."

Lloris a liability for Spurs

According to Opta Stats, Tottenham have made five errors leading to goals this season, and France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is responsible for three of them.

As earlier revealed by Sports Brief, Villa capitalised on Lloris' mistake to open the scoring, after he spilled a shot into the path of Ollie Watkins to square it back for midfielder Emi Buendia to finish.

The Frenchman recently turned 36 and Antonio Conte is reported to be looking for a replacement among goalkeepers in the Premier League.