· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 21 2006-07
· NEW! - See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams!

Full Record of Spurs -v- Aston Villa

Prem          Pl  W  D  L   For-Ag  Pts
Home          16  7  6  3   25 -19  27
Away          15  1  6  8   10 -20   9
======================================
Total(Prem)   31  8 12 11   35 -39  36
======================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 1)  47 25  6 16   99 -77  62
Away (Div 1)  47 17 11 19   72 -75  48
======================================
Total(Div 1)  94 42 17 35  171 -152 110 
=======================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 2)   2  1  1  0    4 - 3   3
Away (Div 2)   2  0  1  1    1 - 3   1
======================================
Total(Div 2)   4  1  2  1    5 - 6   4
======================================
Total(Prem)   31  8 12 11   35 -39  36
Total(Div 1)  94 42 17 35  171-152 110
Total(Div 2)   4  1  2  1    5 - 6   4
======================================
Grand Total  129 51 31 47  211-195 150
======================================

Aston Villa

A. Villa   1-2   Arsenal
A. Villa   1-3   P'tsmouth
S'derland  1-1   A. Villa
A. Villa   1-1   Man City
Chelsea    4-4   A. Villa
Wigan      1-2   A. Villa

Spurs

Spurs      2-3   Birmingham
Spurs      2-1   Man City
P'tsmouth  0-1   Spurs
Arsenal    2-1   Spurs
Spurs      5-1   Fulham
Spurs      6-4   Reading

Pos           P   W  D  L  F-A GD  Pts
7  A. Villa   20  9  6  5  35 26   9  33
12 Spurs      20  6  6  8  41 36   5  24

· Villa 1 Spurs 1 - Robinson survives fans' onslaught
· Villa 1 Spurs 1 - Spurs field 11 full Internationals
· Villa 1 Spurs 0 - Spurs slump to sixth consecutive defeat
· Villa 1 Spurs 0 - Spurs Premiership status was preserved.
· Villa 0 Spurs 1 - Spurs First Premiership win at Villa Park

Neither of these two sides is a stranger to goals this festive period! Spurs two home games have featured a bonanza of 16 goals, and Villa were involved in an eventful 4-4 game at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day. Villa went 2-0 up in the first half, but were pulled back to 2-1 when Zat Knight was alleged to have committed a foul as last man, and saw red, before also seeing Shevchenko score from the spot to make it 2-1. Chelsea fought their way back to a 3-2, then a 4-3 lead, before Gareth Barry scored a last minute penalty to make it 4-4! Knight will be available for this game, having served his one match ban.

That 4-4 scoreline of course brings back the memory of our home meeting against Villa, when we celebrated the 125th anniversary of our club on 1st October. Going into the game, Villa were tenth, and Spurs were in the bottom three, desperately seeking points when Martin Jol was still in charge. Dimitar Berbatov had given us the lead in the 20th minute, but Spurs were 3-1 down at the interval, and went 4-1 down in the 59th minute Craig Gardner goal.

As we all know, Spurs made one of their greatest come-backs, with goals by Chimbonda, Keane (from a penalty), and that dramatic added time goal from Younes Kaboul, who raced to the bench shirtless to celebrate.

I am sure that both sides will be seeking a lower scoring game this time around! Certainly the five year history of this fixture (see above) supports a low scoreline.

Villa were flying high at the end of November, after 4 consecutive wins, which put them in sixth place and only 6 points off the top of the table. Since then, they have won only one of the last six games (and this was on Saturday at Wigan), and whilst they have only fallen one place, they are now 14 points off the pace of Arsenal, and back in the mix with several teams for the potential UEFA Cup place(s) this season.

Villa continue to give youth plenty of chance, and their top league scorer with 7 goals is Gabriel Agbonlahour, who scored Villa's third goal in our 4-4 game. Fellow striker John Carew, who missed the White Hart Lane match, will possibly miss this one with a knee problem sustained on Saturday, after just 11 minutes. 24 year old Shaun Maloney (signed from Celtic last season) is an emerging talent, who scored two of the goals at Chelsea last week. Ashley Young continues to shine on the wing for Martin O'Neill.

Spurs will have Didier Zokora available after his three match ban, and Michael Dawson is fit after missing the last five games suffering from migraine problems. Despite appearing to hobble off the pitch after his heroic four goal haul on Saturday, Dimitar Berbatov is also available. Darren Bent is still doubtful, so Berbatov may start again, despite the heavy schedule of matches over the last week or so.

Berbatov is subject to transfer speculation, but I believe that Spurs will do all they can to keep him, at least until the end of the season. If Berbatov was sold now, at whatever price, it would show a lack of ambition in my view, and destroy the apsirations of the fans. If Spurs fail to qualify for Europe, then I believe we have to accept that a player of Berabtov's calibre will be allowed to move on.

Spurs have won 5 of their last 6 games in all, and are on top form. This is a game that they CAN win. I am sure that both managers will want to make best use of their squad. In Ramos's case, the return of Michael Dawson and Zokora will enable that to happen.

I believe that Spurs could edge this one 2-1.