Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa – Preview

Another week, another opponent in claret and blue. This time around, we host Aston Villa.

Firstly, let’s hope this clash isn’t as dry and lifeless as our trip to Turf Moor last week, in what was a game full of… nothing. No word is a better substitute to complete that sentence, and it was a shameful showing. We never looked like we wanted to win it, and although this could be down to fatigue over the season, it was still an incredibly poor performance.

Hopefully, this tie with Aston Villa will be much better. We missed a great opportunity to overtake Liverpool last week, and whilst we did move above Southampton, the higher finish, the better. What made matters worse is Manchester City lost on Monday night, and the gap between ourselves and the top four would have been just five points.

Our faint hopes of qualifying for the Champions League are all but dead in the water, and now we must focus on which players will be around for next season, and, perhaps more importantly, qualifying for Europe.

People can bemoan the Europa League all they want, but it provides another entrance to the Champions League, and I believe after one year, Mauricio Pochettino will have learned how to balance his squad correctly.

Our last home league defeat came against Stoke City back in November, highlighting the strength we now possess in our core.

Villa come to White Hart Lane in the midst of a relegation fight and with a trip to Wembley on the horizon. We’ve won just one of our last three, which was a narrow win over basement side Leicester City, so they’ll definitely be up for it. And of course, the media spotlight is on one man – Tim Sherwood.

Sherwood returns to White Hart Lane for the first time since his dismissal, ironically following a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on the last day of last season. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last we heard of him.

Since being removed from his role as manager in North London, Sherwood has been quick to claim his role in the careers of some of our young stars, namely Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb. Whilst he did hand them debuts, their development has largely been down to their own ability and determination.

Thankfully, not many people have bought into Sherwood’s claims, and even Aston Villa fans are starting to see his peculiar mannerisms (namely throwing his gillet around and showing unnecessary emotion).

Saturday isn’t about Shewood though, it’s about Tottenham vs Aston Villa, one of our favourite foes. We’ve won the last six meetings, and are unbeaten against Villa since 2008, in the days of Juande Ramos (shudders). Furthermore, Villa’s last goal at White Hart Lane came in 2010, when a Rafael Van der Vaart brace was enough to secure all three points.

In terms of injuries, Kyle Walker and Hugo Lloris haven’t trained this week and so are ruled out, but Jan Vertonghen has a chance of returning at the back. With Walker injured, some are speculating whether DeAndre Yedlin could make his first appearance for Spurs. I reckon Chiriches will fill in at right back, and if Federico Fazio doesn’t return, then Ben Davies could be used at centre back again.

Against Burnley, we missed a good opportunity to claim three points – we can’t let this happen again.

Predicted XI: Vorm; Chiriches, Fazio, Dier, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli; Kane