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Spurs

Man City   0  0   Spurs
Spurs      3  0   Everton
L'cester   1  2   Spurs
Spurs      0  0   Middlesbrough
Spurs      0  1   Bolton
Arsenal    2  1   Spurs

Aston Villa

Chelsea    1  0   A. Villa
A. Villa   1  1   Bolton
B'mingham  0  0   A. Villa
A. Villa   0  0   Everton
Newcastle  1  1   A. Villa
A. Villa   0  2   M'brough


Pos           P  W  D  L  F-A   GD  Pts
16 Spurs     12  3  3  6 11-16  -5  12
18 A. Villa  12  2  5  5  9-15  -6  11
Positions updated after Saturday's
results

Both these teams are desperate to resume after the hiatus of another International break with a win to drag them away from the relegation zone. In that sense this is a six-pointer. Spurs are the fancied runners with the bookmakers, but we know only too well that favouritism means nothing to the Lilywhites!

Villa are in the bottom three according to the form guide for the last 6 games, in which they have failed to win, and only scored two goals. Indeed. David O'Leary's side (at the time of writing!) have only managed to score more than one goal in two games this season, in their wins at home against Charlton and Leicester. The Villains have managed just 2 points from their 6 away games, without a victory.

It is three years since Villa managed a win over Spurs with a 2-0 win at Villa Park, when a George Graham side displayed its worse (dire) side.(Read the report here) In the April of that year (2000), Villa got their last win at The Lane, with an entertaining 4-2 and a blitz of 4 goals in 13 second-half minutes, after we had been two up.(Read the report here)

Villa are in the news at present because Doug Ellis has relinquished his Chief Executive role, and rumours are rife regarding a possible "Abramovich-type" take-over from a Venezualan investor. However, it seems that any such take-over would be nowhere near the scale of Chelsea, and perhaps O'Leary would be still limited for transfer funds. O'Leary too has been subject of amazing rumours, first that he might return to Leeds, and secondly that he could be thrown out of Villa. Both are ridiculous in my view. Leeds are still paying him some 3.7 million in compensation for a start!

There is little that excites me about Villa's game at present, but Spurs will need to play with the spirit and effort that they did two weeks ago at Higbury to get a result in this match. Anthony Gardner's absence from England's friendly was a precaution, and will not prevent him from playing this week. Robbie Keane returns from International duty in fine form, and one hopes that Postiga too will feel more confident.

I suspect the Spurs team will be pretty much unchanged from that which started at Highbury, but I can't feel confident about them at the moment, and will settle for a 2-1 win.

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