Aston Villa travel to North-London to take on Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this weekend.
Here’s the latest heading into this Sunday’s big game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Words by: Liam Davies
THE BUILD UP
Aston Villa enter this Sunday, on the back of the international period, looking to break into the top four of the Premier League. Unai Emery’s side sit just a point off their opponents this week, Tottenham Hotspur, who occupy that sought after fourth spot with 26 points after 12 games played. Therefore, victory on Sunday would guarantee at least a spot in the UEFA Champions League heading into next week’s trip to AFC Bournemouth.
Last time out, Villa extended their winning run at home in the Premier League to 13, with victory over Marco Silva’s Fulham at Villa Park. A 27th minute own goal was accompanied by John McGinn’s well-taken strike just before the break and Ollie Watkins’ 64th minute effort. RaΓΊl JimΓ©nez did grab a goal back for the travelling Cottagers but it would prove to be only a consolation as the hosts claimed all three points.
Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham enter this weekend’s game on the back of two successive defeats; their only two in the Premier League.
First up was a loss at home to Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea in what has been described as many as the ‘game of the season’ so far. A game plagued with controversy saw Dejan Kulusevski open the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after just six minutes before the Blues would have two goals chalked off for handball and offside.
Spurs’ Cristian Romero was then sent off after a lengthy VAR check which also saw the visitors awarded a penalty; one that Cole Palmer would slot away. Destiny Udogie’s 55th minute second yellow card saw Tottenham down to nine men as Nicolas Jackson scored a 22 minute hat-trick in the closing stages to round off a dramatic 4-1 win.
Next up for the North-London side was a trip to Molineux to face Gary O’Neil’s Wolves. The Lilywhites’ injury and suspension crisis did them no favours that afternoon, despite going a goal up through Brennan Johnson inside three minutes, as Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina’s late, late strikes helped the Wanderers to a 2-1 win.
Unai Emery believes the upcoming test against Tottenham is a difficult one but reveals that his team is ready. On Sunday’s big game, the Spaniard said: βItβs amazing, the match we are going to play on Sunday. They are playing brilliant, they are really being a very difficult team this season.
TEAM NEWS
ASTON VILLA
Aston Villa have this week welcomed back Jacob Ramsey and Γlex Moreno to full first-team training.
The pair have each struggled with injury to begin the 2023/24 campaign, with Ramsey picking up just 74 minutes (across three games) and Moreno yet to feature at all in claret and blue. The former has struggled with a metatarsal problem sustained during the U21 Euros with England over the summer, while the latter has been side-lined with a hamstring injury picked up at Anfield last term.
The duo each played a crucial part in the team gaining European qualification last season. On the significance of both Ramsey and Moreno’s recoveries – alongside Tim Iroegbunam too – Unai Emery said: βThe recovery of Jacob Ramsey, Γlex Moreno and Tim is really, really important for us.β
Diego Carlos, who missed the victory over Fulham last time out after coming off against Alkmaar through injury, also returned and is in contention for Sunday’s game in the capital.
Elsewhere, however, Unai Emery has a handful of Villans who have picked up knocks during the recent international break. As reported in Friday’s press conference, NicolΓ² Zaniolo, John McGinn, Leon Bailey, Bertrand TraorΓ© and Emi MartΓnez have all reported back with some sort of problem.
Captain John McGinn trained on Friday and Emery revealed that the Scotsman told him ‘he was ready’ to play, but some of the others face late fitness tests ahead of Sunday, while TraorΓ© is definitely ruled out.
On the quartet, Emery said: βSome players are coming back after their international matches with a little bit of doubt for Sunday.
βEmi, Leon and NicolΓ² are hopefully well, but Bertrand TraorΓ© is coming back injured.”
Tyrone Mings and Emi BuendΓa both remain out with their long-term knee injuries, but the pair are progressing well, with Mings recently sharing a video highlighting his recovery journey so far.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Ange Postecoglou will be without a host of players for this weekend’s home clash with Aston Villa, including his trusty centre-back duo of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.
Romero received a straight red card in Spurs’ London derby clash with Chelsea and is suspended for Sunday, while van de Ven picked up a hamstring injury that same night and is out for the foreseeable future.
Eric Dier and Emerson Royal are expected to join Pedro Porro in the Spurs defence on Sunday, alongside left-back Destiny Udogie who is back in contention after returning from both a muscular injury and suspension. The Italian picked up two yellow cards during that Monday night fixture against Chelsea, which kept him out of the Wolves defeat, and the former Udinese man missed Italy training to rest.
On the 20-year-old, head coach Postecoglou said: “Yeah, Destiny is fine, he’s available. We’ll get him back now and he’s had a good couple of weeks.”
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James Maddison, another crucial cog in Postecoglou’s Lilywhite machine, is also ruled out of this weekend’s fixture; the former Leicester City play-maker is out until the new year with an ankle injury. Fellow midfielder, Yves Bissouma is also absent through suspension after picking up too many yellow cards.
Elsewhere, Richarlison (groin), Manor Soloman (knee), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Ivan PeriΕ‘iΔ (knee) and Alfie Whiteman (ankle) are all out through injury.
To finish, young centre-back Ashley Phillips and midfielder Pape Matar Sarr have recently picked up injuries and look set to miss Sunday’s game. On the pair, Postecoglou said: “We’ve got a couple of issues. Young Ash Phillips picked up an ankle injury so he will be out for a little while, which is disappointing for him.
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A BIT ON TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Tottenham Hotspur have been one of the top-performing teams in the Premier League this season, somewhat surprisingly after losing key man and club legend Harry Kane to Bayern Munich over the summer.
The arrival of Australian head coach Ange Postecoglou has been a positive one for Spurs, with the former Celtic boss brining exciting, attacking football back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The 58-year-old manager brought in the likes of Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario over the summer who, alongside Destiny Udogie who returned from loan, have revitalised what was a poor Spurs defence.
In midfield ‘big Ange’ has got the best out of both Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, who had struggled since their arrivals at the club, and bought number 10 James Maddison to North-London where he has shone, week in, week out, winning the Premier League’s August player of the month accolade.
Another man who can boast such an award is Heung-min Son who won it for his performances during September. The South-Korean forward has excelled under Postecoglou’s guidance and stewardship, scoring eight and assisting once in 12 games. The Australian himself has three awards, winning the manager of the month accolade for all three months of the season so far. Impressive.
The Spurs boss believes his side’s upcoming opponents will be a good test but backs his side to get the job done on home soil.
Speaking to #SPURSPLAY ahead of this weekend’s top five clash with Aston Villa, Postecoglou said: “They’re a good side, a good challenge for us. Since Unai has come in there, they’ve been really consistent with how they’ve played their football and have gained a lot of confidence particularly in recent weeks in the front-third with their goal-scoring.
Can Unai Emery record back-to-back away wins at Tottenham for the first time since 1995 (@AVFCStatto) and move his side into the top four of the Premier League or will Ange Postecoglou’s team get back on track after a tough couple of weeks and pick up all three points at home?
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MY PREDICTED LINE-UP
Letβs take a look at my predicted line-up for this upcoming fixture in North-Londonβ¦
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