MusaTottenham Hotspur finally appeared to have broken their frustrating Premier League goal drought when Mohammed Kudus found the back of the net against Aston Villa.
But the celebrations inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were short-lived.
Kudus reacted quickest to finish from close range and Spurs briefly believed they had finally found their breakthrough. However, VAR intervened and the goal was subsequently ruled out after Andy Robertson was judged to have been in an offside position during the build-up.
The decision immediately created another wave of frustration among Tottenham supporters, who had already watched their side dominate significant portions of the match without being rewarded for their attacking pressure.
Kudus thought he had finally ended the drought
Kudus had entered the game from the bench at half-time and quickly made an impact.
When the ball eventually fell to the Ghana international inside the area, he made no mistake with the finish. For a moment, it appeared Tottenham had finally scored their first Premier League goal of the season.
Instead, the referee’s decision was sent for a VAR check.
The Premier League explanation was that Robertson was in an offside position in the build-up to the goal, meaning Kudus’ finish could not stand.
That distinction is important because Kudus himself was not necessarily the player whose position triggered the decision.
The goal was disallowed because of an earlier phase of the attacking move involving Robertson.
Why Tottenham fans were so angry
The timing of the decision made it particularly painful for Spurs supporters.
Tottenham had gone into the Aston Villa match desperately needing a goal after failing to score in their opening four Premier League fixtures. Their attacking struggles had become one of the biggest talking points surrounding Roberto De Zerbi’s early tenure.
So when Kudus finally put the ball into the net, supporters naturally believed the long wait was over.
Instead, VAR delivered another twist.
Reports from the match confirmed that VAR identified Robertson’s offside position in the build-up before recommending that the goal be disallowed.
For Tottenham fans, it was another frustrating moment in a match where chances had already gone begging.
But the “new Premier League rule” is a separate controversy
There was also confusion surrounding the new Premier League rules during the match, but this was not the reason Kudus’ goal was disallowed.
One of the new 2026/27 rules requires a player who receives treatment on the pitch for an injury to leave the field for at least one minute after play restarts. That rule became relevant earlier in the match when Micky van de Ven received treatment following a collision.
While Van de Ven was temporarily off the pitch, Tottenham were effectively down to 10 men and Aston Villa took advantage, eventually scoring through Johan Manzambi in first-half stoppage time.
That incident added another layer of frustration for Spurs supporters, but it should not be confused with the Kudus VAR decision.
VAR controversy overshadows Kudus’ moment
The bigger frustration for Tottenham was that even when they eventually found the net, the goal did not count.
Kudus’ effort was later followed by Aston Villa restoring their advantage through Nicolas Jackson, while Emiliano Buendia added another goal before Tottenham mounted a late comeback.
Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke eventually scored for Spurs, but Villa held on for a 3-2 victory.
That result left Tottenham still searching for their first Premier League victory of the campaign.
For Kudus, meanwhile, the afternoon produced a particularly frustrating mixture of promise and disappointment. He managed to get the ball into the net, only for the goal to be erased by a VAR decision concerning the build-up.
And that is precisely why the incident has generated so much discussion among Tottenham supporters.
The debate is not simply about whether Kudus finished correctly.
It is about whether the attacking move should ever have reached the point where his finish was ultimately cancelled — and whether supporters were given enough clarity over exactly why their apparent equaliser disappeared.
For a Tottenham side desperate for something to finally go their way, Kudus’ disallowed goal became another symbol of a hugely frustrating afternoon.
Musa
