Former hero Friedel: Villa is a "tremendous" football club

By Paul Brown

Brad Friedel has hailed Villa a "tremendous football club" as he gets set to face his former team with Tottenham.

The USA ace arrived at White Hart Lane in the summer, having spent three seasons in claret and blue.

Of course, Friedel maintained his amazing record of consecutive matches in the Barclays Premier League throughout that spell - he'll be up to 277 tonight.

Not only that but he also created a strong bond with both supporters who religiously chanted his name and also his good mates on the pitch.

Friedel has high praise for the way the club is run off the field and the stars gracing the team on it too.

He said: "Villa are a tremendous football club with a big following and the owner and chief executive are terrific people.

"They really went for it over the time I was there trying to get into the Champions League spots and brought some tremendous players into the squad.

"Everyone can see how good a player Stiliyan Petrov is. They have a very good goalkeeper in Shay Given and one of the best centre-back pairings in the league in Richard Dunne and James Collins.

"Gabby Agbonlahor is playing exceptionally well while Emile Heskey always puts a shift in and makes it difficult for defenders.

"They also have some talented youngsters such as Marc Albrighton, Chris Herd and Barry Bannan.

"Obviously it will be nice to see some friendly faces in the opposition dressing room, but once the whistle blows I'll just be concentrating on trying to help us to win the game.

"This will be a very difficult match for us, they like to play football but so do we, so it could be entertaining."

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Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa