Villa 1-2 Spurs - Mauricio's verdict

Mauricio Pochettino was pleased with the character on display as we came from 1-0 down to beat Villa 2-1 on Sunday.

We created the better chances in the first half but found ourselves a goal down as Andrea Weimann opened the scoring for the home team on 16 minutes.

Christian Benteke also struck the woodwork in an end-to-end first 45 minutes where Roberto Soldado headed wide, Younes Kaboul couldn’t get enough on a close-range effort to beat Brad Guzan and the US goalkeeper saved superbly from Emmanuel Adebayor.

Benteke was sent off after a bust-up with Ryan Mason on 65 minutes and we continued plugging away until the equaliser arrived on 84 minutes when Nacer Chadli converted his fifth goal in nine Premier League outings.

You sensed then that we might grab the winner and Harry Kane, off the bench just before the hour, delivered in the 89th minute, his free-kick clipping off the wall and flying into the top corner.

“I’m very happy because in the second half we showed our character,” said Mauricio.

“It was difficult at the beginning. We played better than Aston Villa but in the first half, we were 1-0 down.

“We didn’t deserve that, but that’s football.

“Sometimes in football it isn’t fair because you try to play, you play better, you have chances – today, in the end, we had more chances and they shot just once on target and scored.

“It was a difficult moment, we needed to be strong in our mentality and we showed that. It wasn’t an easy game and we’re all happy because the win is very important.”