· Last Year's Game - 0-0
· Last Year's Spursometer - 60%
· This season's away game - 1-1
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 20 2005-6
· Spurs beat Newcastle and Villa drew against Arsenal
· 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          14  6  5  3   19 -14  23
Away          15  1  6  8   10 -20   9
======================================
Total(Prem)   29  7 11 11   29 -34  32
======================================
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)   29  7 11 11   29 -34  32
Total(Div 1)  94 42 17 35  171-152 110
Total(Div 2)   4  1  2  1    5 - 6   4
======================================
Grand Total  127 50 30 47  205-192 146
======================================

Spurs

Spurs      3-1   Wigan
Arsenal    3-0   Spurs
Spurs      2-1   M'brough
Spurs      5-1   Charlton
Man City   1-2   Spurs
Newcastle  3-1   Spurs

Aston Villa

A. Villa   1-1   M'brough
A. Villa   1-3   Man City
P'tsmouth  2-2   A. Villa
Sheff Utd  2-2   A. Villa
A. Villa   0-1   Bolton
A. Villa   0-3   Man Utd

Pos          P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts
 7 Spurs    19  8  4  7  23-25  -2  28 
10 A. Villa 19  5 10  4  21-21   0  25

It's Christmas time and it's officially the start of the second half of the season, as Spurs play their first return game, against Aston Villa. When we met at Villa Park in October, Paul Robinson had to fend off abuse following his error in an England shirt against Croatia. Robinson gave an excellent display of keeping, and his reputation is under attack again this week, after his error at St. James' Park on Saturday, when he failed to hold Milner's free kick, leading to the decisive third goal for the home team.

We've now drawn our last three Premiership games against the "Villans", and it's nearly two years since we scored a devastating 5-1 victory near the end of the 2004-5 season.

Martin O'Neill's side had an efficient rather than sensational start to the season. They were the last unbeaten Premiership side this term, and lost their first game at the end of October at Anfield. They won two games after that, and were fourth in the table. Sadly for them, Villa have failed to win any of their last 7 games, and even lost at home to Manchester City at the end of last month.

O'Neill will be quite desperate to get something out of this game, before what looks like a promising trip to The Valley next Saturday. However, Villa then have to face Chelsea, and their return trip to Manchester United, to whom they capitulated on Saturday.

O'Neill had a problem when taking over this season, as the Lerner acquisition was completed with hardly any time left in the transfer window. One imagines that Villa will be one of the busier clubs in January.

Spurs last played Aston Villa on Boxing Day in 1997, at Villa Park. This was a near-disastrous season for us, as we fought against relegation. Jurgen Klinsmann had been re-signed, but allowed home to Italy, as the club did not think his registration would be completed in time. We lost 4-1, with Draper and Collymore both scoring twice. Colin Calderwood played in the midfield, and actually scored the Spurs goal, but it was one of a number of inept Spurs performances that season.

The teams that day were:-

Aston Villa : Bosnich; Nelson, Scimeca, Ehiogu, Staunton; Draper, Taylor, Grayson, Wright; Milosevic, Collymore.

Tottenham Hotspur : Walker; Carr, Campbell, Mabbutt (sub Anderton, 73), Wilson (sub Allen, 73); Calderwood, Fox, Neilsen, Sinton (sub Clemence, 25); Ginola, Iversen.

Spurs had the better of Villa for most of the first half in this season's away game, and ought to be able to see them off this time, considering our great home form. However, we must hope that Lennon and Defoe can make it off the injury list, as otherwise, Spurs resources will be rather thin, and anything could happen.

I'll go for a 2-0 win for Spurs, but it could be closer than that! Don't forget this is a 1 o'clock kick-off.

Please note that due to the festivities, the website may not be updated before Wednesday. Happy Christmas!

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