Finely poised at the break:

The Uruguayan sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage in February and was making his first start for Tottenham for nine months when he had to leave the field after just half an hour.

Cash caught Bentancur on the ankle with a miss-judged sliding challenge, creating a new problem for Tottenham to contend with amid an ongoing injury crisis.

More bad news for Tottenham:

Let’s take a quick look at the two first-half goals.

Lo Celso opened the scoring with a sweet hit from a corner:

But Villa pegged the home sides back when Torres headed home in the dying moments of the first half:

A frantic first half comes to a close with the scores level and it’s not been without its drama. Spurs flew out of the blocks, squandering a number of chances before they eventually led through Lo Celso’s deflected strike.

Villa thought they had hit back immediately but Watkins’ goal was ruled out. Bentancur – starting his first league game in nine months – went off injured after a challenge from Cash before Villa did eventually get their equaliser on the stroke of half-time when Torres headed home from a free-kick.

More of the same after the break, please!

Villa equalise on the stroke of half-time! An inch-perfect delivery from deep by Luiz lands on the head of Torres and the centre-back thunders his header past Vicario to level this game up.

He missed a chance earlier in the half but he makes no mistake this time around. There’s a VAR check but the goal will stand.

45+4 mins: A poor pass from Porro on the edge of his box gifts the ball to Villa in a promising position. Diaby receives the ball in the box but a swarm of Spurs players crowd him out as Emerson eventually clears it away.

45 mins: Six minutes of stoppage time in this first half as Porro hits the deck after a challenge from Kamara. Villa play on and almost carve out a chance from Diaby’s low ball into the box but the effort is miscued and flies harmlessly out for a goal-kick.

44 mins: OFFSIDE! Son bears down on goal and finishes clinically past Martinez but the offside flag is up straight away and the finish won’t stand.

40 mins: McGinn enters the book for dissent after Cash’s late challenge on Udogie. The Villa defender is already in the book and is being booed every time he gets on the ball after his earlier challenge that led to Bentancur’s injury.

39 mins: Spurs are getting plenty of joy down their right side as Johnson surges clear on this occasion. His cut-back finds Gil but the Spaniard gets too cute with it, opting against a shot and trying to find Kulusevski with an intricate pass which is cut out.