Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa

Nigel Reo-Coker and Ashley Young grabbed the goals in Aston Villa's 2-1 win at White Hart Lane to consign Tottenham to their worst start in the Premier League.

Spurs could point to Dimitar Berbatov's transfer saga contributing to just a point from their opening three games, but this defeat had nothing to do with the Bulgarian - Martin O'Neill's men had too much pace and dealt with almost everything thrown at them.

Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes prevented Villa from adding to Reo-Coker's opener but it was then his mistake that gifted Young his strike in the second half.

Darren Bent's fortunate effort gave Spurs hope with four minutes left but Villa held on.

It sealed Villa's first three points in London for four years, and kept Spurs at the bottom of the table.

• Ramos: It's only just begun

The corresponding fixture last year resulted in eight goals shared and Spurs' dramatic comeback completed in the last seconds - and the way both teams started suggested they were in the mood for more of the same.

Plenty has changed at Spurs since. Not one of their goalscorers on that night are now at the club and Martin Jol, coach at the time, is currently top of the league with Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Villa fans even ironically chanted the Dutchman's name.

With Franco Baldini from Fabio Capello's backroom staff watching in the stands, Villa broke the deadlock in the fifth minute with a goal made by three of Villa's seven Englishmen in their starting XI.

Winger Young had fed Gabriel Agbonlahor down the left flank and his low cross found its way to the far post, after John Carew's attempted flick.

Reo-Coker did not take a touch and stroked the ball in at the the near post, his first league goal for Villa.

Luka Modric attempted to get Spurs back into the game with a run and shot that was saved by Brad Friedel - his only contribution before hobbling off with a knock - but it could have got worse for the hosts.

Reo-Coker had a cross deflected that sliced towards Gomes' goal and hit the post.

Nicky Shorey was booked for a trip on Aaron Lennon as Spurs attempted to get themselves back in the game by breaking forward. They thought they should have had a penalty when Curtis Davies blocked a shot from Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was making his debut after his £13.8million move from Spartak Moscow.

The scoreline made for an open game, and Gomes kept Spurs within reach with two saves from the top drawer. The first was when Gareth Barry got on the end of Agbonlahor's cross - the ball was behind the Brazilian when he clawed it away.

Then Agbonlahor met Shorey's cross at the far post and Gomes punched to safety.

Pavlyuchenko made a frustrating start to his career in England, snapping at the ankles of Stiliyan Petrov within 12 seconds of kick-off.

He got on the end of a Gareth Bale free-kick but his finish went in the wrong direction, then he had a penalty shout correctly turned down when Luke Young cleared for a corner.

Spurs head coach Juande Ramos sent on David Bentley at the break and the England midfielder came sprinting out of the dressing room first, signalling his intent.

Spurs pushed forward and Friedel was required to tip a swerving Lennon half-volley over the crossbar - but they were two goals adrift within nine minutes of the restart.

Villa's second started with Barry getting out of trouble in his own territory by tricking Jermaine Jenas and Pavlyuchenko with a sharp turn. He fed midfielder Young on the halfway line and the former Watford player headed towards goal, breezing past Michael Dawson and then firing a skidding shot that crept under Gomes' dive.

Dawson picked up a booking for a block when Young was running at the hosts at full speed, then the defender was taken off for Giovani dos Santos as Spurs went for broke.

Bent grabbed his goal with four minutes remaining when he failed to get out of the way of Jenas' shot - the ball struck his ankles and flew past Friedel.

Jenas then blocked on the line from Villa substitute Marlon Harewood when a third goal looked a certainty.

# Ramos: It's only just begun

Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos insists it is too early to write off hopes of a top-four finish despite the defeat by Aston Villa bringing about the club's worst start to a Premier League season.

''We've only played four games, it's only just begun,'' said the Spaniard. ''There is still room for us there. We had very little time to prepare - (Vedran) Corluka, (Roman) Pavlyuchenko and (Fraizer) Campbell are new to the club and haven't really had time.

''We are behind in our preparations. We need to keep the spirit going and climb as high up the table as possible.

''We've made an irregular start to the season having lost three games which makes it an uphill struggle for us.''

Ramos insists he has faced bigger challenges in his career and feels he has the quality in his squad to kick-start their season.

''We've got a young squad with plenty of quality there and hopefully with calmness and experience we'll get a positive result and after that things could well change for us,'' he said.

''I'm not going to carry out an assessment after just one game. Don't forget this is the same squad that beat Roma 5-1.

''We've had good results against Celtic and Roma, I know that was in pre-season but they were great games and we have very good footballers.''

Ramos admitted he was furious with his players but refused to single out Heurelho Gomes, who was at fault for Ashley Young's strike just after the break.

''I'm always angry at the end of games like this with the players and myself as well,'' Ramos said.

''The blame I give to the goalkeeper is the blame that is due to him, like the other players. On other occasions he also stopped them scoring goals.

''I think he was absolutely magnificent apart from that goal.''

Seven of O'Neill's starting XI were Englishmen, although it was Franco Baldini, from England's backroom staff, rather than coach Fabio Capello, who watched the game.

''I'm not wildly interested in what Fabio does, I'm sure he's basking in the glory of a wonderful performance and that is great,'' O'Neill said.

''With Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor, their time will come. I'm really selfish about this and want them to be on the fringe of the internationals but not actually play.

''I'd hope that would continue for another eight years!''

Reo-Coker said: ''It's just hard work and determination.

''We can be as strong as we want to be. The Premier League is very strong and competitive - we are just focusing on getting points on the board.''

Gareth Barry added: ''They had a lot of pressure but we saw it out well.''

Agbonlahor picked up a thigh problem but the injury is not thought to be serious, while John Carew hobbled off with an apparent ankle injury and will need to be assessed ahead of Villa's UEFA Cup clash against Litex Lovech on Thursday.