You never know what you’re going to get with Tottenham Hotspur. Go and beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford? Piece of cake. Knock Premier League champions Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup? No problem. Beat Brighton and Crystal Palace? Big problem. You might see a pattern emerging here.
Ange Postecoglou’s side are very much all or nothing. Four wins, four losses, one draw. They press high and go for the jugular, but they’re a mess in defence. It makes for a great spectacle — of course — but if they’re hoping to become a juggernaut of English football, something has to change.
After spending £125million this summer, Tottenham are eighth in the Premier League — five points off fourth-place Aston Villa ahead of this crucial showdown in North London on Sunday. Unai Emery’s men beat Tottenham to that coveted final Champions League spot last season.
Last season, Villa beat Spurs away 2-1. Tottenham then went to Villa and thumped them 4-0 but were still pipped to fourth place by two points at the end of the season. This game should be the perfect assessment of where both sides are, but on its face, it’s night and day. This season, Coventry nearly knocked the Spurs out of the cup. On the other hand, Aston Villa stunned Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Champions League and top the new-look standings of that competition.
Spurs will focus on their superior home form this season. They’ve only lost once at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so far, against Arsenal in September. They’ve racked up five wins in a row in front of their fans. On the flip side, Villa have also won five of their six away games in all competitions and only have one defeat overall, which also came at the hands of Arsenal.
During Tottenham’s 4-0 win at Villa, Emery took a tactical gamble that backfired as he opted to play a back five. He’ll have learnt from that humbling, and I expect a much more solid Villa team this time around, but we should still see an open game between two attacking teams. As far as form goes, the advantage goes to Villa. They’ve won three of the last four meetings in total and three of the last four away trips to Tottenham.
Spurs have a few injuries that could turn into a crisis if they can’t get some key men fit for the game. They will be without Micky van de Ven, who came off with a hamstring issue in the win over City. It’s not serious, but he’s out until after the international break, so Radu Dragusin will deputise. Cristian Romero and Timo Werner are also doubts. Son Heung-min is racing to be fit for the game after missing the last three matches, while Djed Spence is also in contention. Wilson Odobert remains out after a setback in his recovery.
Villa have no injury concerns after welcoming back Tyrone Mings in their 2-1 cup loss to Crystal Palace mid-week. He played the full 90 minutes after missing 14 months of action.
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Tottenham vs Aston Villa odds
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — London
Time: 2 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. ET), Sunday
Streaming: Fubo (US only, try for free)
Form guide (league only)
Tottenham: 4-1-4, 16 points (8th); L-W-L-W-W
Aston Villa: 5-3-1, 18 points (4th); D-W-D-D-W
Match prediction
Tottenham 2-2 Aston Villa
Tottenham seem to turn it on against the bigger teams, so I expect them to get some kind of result against Villa. By the law of averages, I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat Emery’s side this weekend and then lost to Ipswich at home next weekend. This match should be an exciting game for the neutrals, with Villa offering serious firepower through Ollie Watkins, Leon Bailey, Morgan Rogers and Jhon Duran.
With Spurs having Dominic Solanke, Timo Werner, Brennan Johnson and potentially Son going at Villa, this contest could be a goal-fest. Considering Spurs are imperious at home and Villa have won all their league games away from home, I’m going for a draw here.
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(Photo of Dejan Kulusevski: Alex Pantling / Getty Images)
