Match preview for Aston Villa v Tottenham
Aston Villa can ill-afford a slip-up in the race for Champions League football when they host a Tottenham side likely to be rotating with one eye on Wednesday’s Europa League final.
Friday’s encounter was controversially brought forward, along with Chelsea’s clash with Manchester United, to allow both Tottenham and United more time to prepare for their Europa League showpiece in Bilbao next week.
Villa protested the decision, but the decreased amount of rest following last Saturday’s 1-0 win at Bournemouth is not expected to make much of a difference to the outcome.
Tottenham suffered their 20th Premier League defeat of the season last Sunday as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Crystal Palace and, with manager Ange Postecoglou focusing more on players avoiding injury ahead of a desire to head into the Europa League final with any kind of momentum, Villa will be widely expected to prevail with little difficulty.
It is imperative for Unai Emery’s men that they do so.
Villa are level on points with Chelsea in the race a top-five spot that would secure Champions League qualification for another season. They are two points behind Manchester City in fourth, three adrift of Newcastle United in third and five behind Arsenal in second with two games to go.
A defeat and a Chelsea win over United, coupled with a City victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday, would essentially end their hopes of qualification given their significantly inferior goal difference to Chelsea, City and Newcastle.
But Emery’s men have been outstanding at home all season. They haven’t lost at Villa Park in the Premier League since their first home game of the campaign, a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on August 24.
Tottenham have lost four of their last five away league games, arresting that slide with a 1-1 draw at West Ham this month and, with Postecoglou’s concentration fixed on what he described as the “balancing act” of getting players minutes but avoiding injury ahead of the final, the likelihood is that Villa will be leapfrogging at least City and piling pressure on Newcastle.
Team news for Aston Villa v Tottenham
Villa won’t be at full strength in terms of the creative flair that has been apparent throughout the season for Emery’s side.
Jacob Ramsey is suspended having been sent off at Bournemouth, while Marcus Rashford is nursing a hamstring injury.
Youri Tielemans is likely to miss the rest of the season because of a muscle injury that kept him out of the Bournemouth game.
With James Maddison already ruled out for the season and Dejan Kulusevski joining him following knee surgery, Postecoglou will be wary of risking his big hitters ahead of the United game.
Son Heung-min, Richarlison and Brennan Johnson may all start in the forward line, but it would be unrealistic to expect that trio to play the full 90 minutes.
Lucas Bergvall is still dealing with an ankle injury in the Tottenham midfield, while Postecoglou has a decision to make over whether to risk Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven at the back.
Predicted line-ups for Aston Villa v Tottenham
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Kamara, Onana; Rogers, Asensio, McGinn, Watkins
Tottenham: Vicario, Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence, Gray, Bissouma, Sarr, Johnson, Richarlison, Son
Stats for Aston Villa v Tottenham
Villa have won three of their last five Premier League games against Tottenham, though they have lost the last two. That is more victories than they achieved in their previous 21 against Spurs (W2 D3 L16).Only against Manchester City (12) have Tottenham won more Premier League away games than they have against Villa (11).Spurs have won eight of their last nine at Villa Park (L1).Villa are unbeaten in their last 20 home games in all competitions (W14 D6). They last had a longer run between September 1976 and May 1977 (24).
