Tottenham 1-0 Villarreal: Scruffy Spurs take Champions League win
Thomas Frank's side are poor in second half but take the points
A bizarre own goal gave stuttering Tottenham a home win over Villarreal on their return to the Champions League.
Thomas Frank’s side controlled the first half and the ever energetic Lucas Bergvall created an early goal when his cross was fumbled into his own net by goalkeeper Luiz Junior.
The Brazilian stood up to remonstrate with his defence but it was a dreadful error all of his own doing.
That threatened to open the floodgates but instead Spurs struggled and had just one shot on target in the rest of the half.
Villarreal were much improved after the break, without overly troubling Guglielmo Vicario in the Tottenham goal.
The hosts struggled in the second half, struggling for any fluency and giving the ball away all too often.
Frank shuffled his pack, handing a debut to striker Randal Kolo Mmuani, but wass left with his heart in his mouth when Micky van de Ven barged over Georges Mikautadze when clean through on goal with five minutes left.
Luckily the Dutchman’s challenge was a yard outside the area, and the card shown to him was yellow and not red.
Former Arsenal man Nicolas Pepe curled the free-kick just wide and Spuurs held on.