At A Glance
Aston Villa go head-to-head with Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park in the Premier League on Sunday evening.
The Villans were seconds away from beating Newcastle at St James’ Park last time out when Jamaal Lascelles struck to extend their winless run to three games.
That draw moved Dean Smith’s team to within four points of Spurs, who sit just above them in eighth place.
Tottenham have endured a difficult few days after a North London derby defeat against Arsenal last weekend was followed by a surprise Europa League exit at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday.
Jose Mourinho’s team lost out 3-2 on aggregate after surrendering a 2-0 first leg lead in Croatia.
Before their loss against the Gunners, Spurs had put together a three-game winning run that had seen them score nine goals.
Standout Stats
Since a 1-2 defeat at Villa Park on New Year’s Day 2008, Spurs are unbeaten in nine away Premier League games against Aston Villa (W7 D2), winning the last five in a row; Spurs’ only longer away winning run against an opponent in the top-flight was against the Villans between 1950 and 1956 (7).
Aston Villa have only lost six consecutive home Premier League matches against an opponent on two previous occasions – versus Manchester United (2003-2007) and Liverpool (2011-2019).
This is the latest first meeting between two sides in a Premier League campaign since 2005-06, when Birmingham and Bolton’s first match against each other came on April 4th.
Aston Villa averaged 2.1 goals-per-game in their first 13 Premier League games this season (27 goals in total), scoring at least three times on six occasions. Since then, the Villans have netted just 12 goals in 14 Premier League games and never more than twice in a match.
Tottenham have lost nine of their 28 Premier League games so far this season – manager José Mourinho has never suffered as many as 10 defeats in a single league campaign in his career.
Tottenham have lost four of their last five away league games (W1), as many as they had in their previous 20 on the road (W8 D8). Each of Spurs’ last eight away league wins has come against placed 13th or lower in the table, last beating a side in the top half on the road back in December 2019 (2-1 vs Wolves).
Aston Villa are averaging 5.1 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season, their highest in a single top-flight campaign since 2002-03 (5.2).
Tottenham’s Gareth Bale netted his first league hat-trick of his senior club career the last time he faced Aston Villa, doing so in a 4-0 victory at Villa Park in December 2012.
Tottenham’s Harry Kane has scored five goals in his last three Premier League appearances against Aston Villa, netting braces in his last two matches against the Villans.
The Last Meeting
This was the last match at Villa Park to have supporters present, back in February last year.
Over 41,000 fans were in the house, and most were celebrating when Toby Alderweireld put through his own net to give Villa the lead.
But after Bjorn Engels had made it 2-2, Son Heung-Min broke the home fans’ hearts when he scored the winner in the 94th minute.
Team News
Dean Smith said he will leave it until Sunday morning to make a decision on Jack Grealish’s involvement, while he expects Bertrand Traore to be in the squad.
Kortney Hause and Wesley have both been training, with the head coach likely to build up their fitness with a friendly over the international break.
Tottenham are likely to be without Son Heung-Min, who Jose Mourinho says will likely need the international break to recover from a thigh injury.
Erik Lamela is suspended after being sent-off in last weekend’s North London derby.
The Boss
“The thing that helps us more than anything last night (Tottenham’s Europa League exit) is the fact that the game went to extra-time. The result for us is probably the wrong thing because I can expect Jose Mourinho to get a backlash from his players and for them to come out fighting at Villa Park. We have to make sure that we concentrate on ourselves rather than Tottenham. It’s a squad that is littered with very good players, none more so than Harry Kane. We have to be at our best to get anything out of this game.”
Dean Smith
