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Spurs Odyssey Preview - Spurs v Aston Villa, 26.11.23

. Last season's game - Spurs 0 Aston Villa 2, 01.01.23
. Premier League Matchday 13 - last year
.
See the current injury list for all Premier League Teams
. All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats

Full Record of Spurs -v- Aston Villa


 
Prem          Pl  W  D  L   For-Ag  Pts
Home          28 14  7  7   44 -30  49
Away          28 10  8 10   37 -31  38
======================================
Total(Prem)   56 24 15 17   81 -61  87  1.55 Pts per game
======================================
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)   56 24 15 17   81 -61  87
Total(Div 1)  94 42 17 35  171-152 110
Total(Div 2)   4  1  2  1    5 - 6   4
======================================
Grand Total  154 67 34 53  257-219 201  1.3 Pts per game
======================================

Last Six Premier League results:-

Spurs       -     WWWWLL
           
Spurs      2-1    Liverpool
Luton      0-1    Spurs
Spurs      2-0    Fulham
C. Palace  1-2    Spurs
Spurs      1-4    Chelsea
Wolves     2-1    Spurs

A.Villa     -     WDWWLW

A.Villa    6-1    Brighton
Wolves     1-1    A.Villa
A.Villa    4-1    West Ham
A.Villa    3-1    Luton
Nottm Fst  2-0    A.Villa
A.Villa    3-1    Fulham

Pos           P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts
4. Spurs     12  8  2  2  24-15   9   26   
5. A. Villa  12  8  1  3  29-17  12   25

Both Spurs and Villa are in the Premier League title race

Welcome to N17

After 12 games, it is very early days to be speaking of the Premier League race, but it is being described as potentially the closest for years. There are just three points separating the top five and both Spurs and Villa are in that group. Unai Emery's Villa side are in good form and just a point behind Angelos Postecoglou's Spurs side who have lost two consecutive league games for the first time this season. Villa were one of the two sides who previously beat us when we lost consecutive games, together with Brentford before we beat Leeds convincingly on the final day of last season.

A win for Villa on Sunday (2pm - SKY) would give them a top four place for the first time since early in the 2020/21 season when they won their first four games, including a sensational 7-2 home win over Liverpool. That was in post-covid times when regular fans were not being allowed to watch games. Dean Smith was the man in charge and Ollie Watkins (who Smith had managed at Brentford) scored a hat-trick against Jurgen Klopp's men. Watkins has scored 6 league goals this season and 46 in all for Villa in 121 league games. He didn't make the most of his opportunity when starting Monday night's England game against North Macedonia.

Under Emery, Villa are currently on a run of 13 consecutive home wins in the Premier League. The Holte End and the rest of the home section is very happy. Those wins include 6 so far this season and the total includes their 2-1 home win over Spurs in May. That result gave Villa six consecutive home league wins for the first time since February 1993. Villa were a strong side in the early Premier League seasons with "Big" Ron Atkinson in charge, and players such as Dean Saunders and Dwight Yorke up front. It was Spurs who brought that 1993 6-game run to an end in a goalless draw.

A win for Villa on Sunday would inflict upon Spurs a third consecutive league defeat for the first time since January/February 2022 in games against Chelsea, Southampton, and Wolves. Most of Sunday's 61,550 plus crowd will be doing their best to see a weakened Spurs side stave off such an event and to stay in the top four.

We will still be missing Cristian Romero, who has this game and next week's Manchester City game still to serve as a result of the sending-off against Chelsea. Yves Bissouma has to sit out this game after needlessly getting booked at Molineux. However, one ray of light is that Bissouma's replacement will probably be Rodrigo Bentancur, who played 148 minutes in Uruguay's two World Cup qualifier wins, one of which was against Romero's Argentina. Destiny Udogie has served his suspension and will also return. We are, of course, still suffering our long-term injury absences of Van de Ven, Maddison, Richarlison, Perisic and Solomon.

The almost forgotten Ryan Sessegnon, who hasn't played since February, may not now be seen till the New Year. Sessegnon has managed just 38 Premier League appearances (18 of those as sub) since we signed him in August 2019.

Last season, Villa managed a top-10 Premier League finish (seventh above Spurs) for the first time in 12 years and are playing European football for the first time since 2010. Villa had finished sixth in 2009-10 but didn't make it past the play-off round of the Europa League and finished the following season in the bottom half. With three wins in their four European Conference League games so far this season, Villa are looking good to reach the knock-out rounds of that competition.

Villa scored in each of their first 20 matches under Unai Emery, the longest consecutive scoring streak from the start of a manager's tenure.

Villa's League double last season was their first over Tottenham since 1995-96. Ugo Ehiogu scored the only goal of the game at White Hart Lane in August 1995. When Ugo passed away aged just 44, six and a half years ago, he was coaching our U-23 side. Goals by Paul McGrath and Dwight Yorke gave Villa a 2-1 home win later in that 95-96 season. Villa enjoyed superiority over us in the early Premier League years, but the ball has been on the other foot until recently.

Villa beat us at The Lane 2-0 on New Year's Day this year with goals by Buendia and Douglas Luiz.

Villa lost Tyrone Mings on the opening day of this season with "a significant knee injury" and had already lost Emile Buendia due to a similar knee injury sustained in pre-season training.

Unai Emery is unbeaten in all five Premier League meetings with Spurs, but his Arsenal side did lose to us in a 2018 League Cup quarter-final, when Dele Alli scored a magnificent goal to secure the win.

Playing personnel at Villa since we last met include the departures of Ashley Young for Everton, and Philippe Coutinho who joined Qatari side Al-Duhail on loan for the rest of the season. Arrivals included Leicester's Youri Telemans and Spain centre-back Pau Torres from Villarreal for a reported 31.5 million. Torres, 26, played under Villa boss Unai Emery with the Spanish club between 2020 and 2023.

France winger Moussa Diaby was signed from Bayer Leverkusen and has played every league game so far this season, scoring three goals. Diaby is 24 and began his career at PSG. Italy midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo is on loan from Galatasaray for the rest of the season and is seen as replacement for the injured Buendia.

Villa also completed a loan move for Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet who is returning to the Premier League after making 24 starts in 26 appearances last season for Tottenham. Lenglet has only appeared in Villa's European games so far.

Villa's away form does not match their home record, with defeats at Newcastle, Liverpool and most recently Nottingham Forest. Because of our enforced absences, I do have some trepidation about this game, but I predict a 2-1 home win!

Rob Jones is refereeing us for the third time this season, having previously overseen the Brentford and Arsenal away games which were both drawn. Although this is only the fifth time in all that we have seen Mr. Jones in the middle, he will be refereeing his 10th Premier League game of the season. He is also currently gaining some European experience.

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