Aston Villa will be looking into getting into Champions League spot when they take on Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Tottenham’s incredible start to the campaign was compromised before the international break after defeats to Chelsea and Wolves, made worse by injuries picked up to key players that have exposed their fragile squad.

Villa have been on the rout in recent weeks as they look to compete for a place in Europe’s top tier competition. They currently sit in fifth just one point and a place behind Spurs heading into Sunday’s meeting.

Team News

Destiny Udogie returns for Spurs after injury and suspension but Cristian Romero and Yves Bissouma are banned.

Pape Matar Sarr sustained an unspecified injury while playing for Senegal and will be assessed.

Aston Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey has recovered from a broken metatarsal, while fit-again left-back Alex Moreno awaits his first outing of the season.

Emi Martinez, Matty Cash, John McGinn, Leon Bailey and Nicolo Zaniolo are all expected to overcome minor injuries.

Bertrand Traore is out, while Lucas Digne, Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara are one booking from triggering a suspension

Match Facts

Head-to-head

Aston Villa beat Tottenham home and away last season and can win three consecutive Premier League matches against them for only the second time, following a run of four from 1994 to 1996.

Tottenham have not lost consecutive home games against Villa since August 1995.

Spurs had a different manager for each of their four previous league fixtures against Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: Mauricio Pochettino, Ryan Mason, Nuno and Antonio Conte. Ange Postecoglou will be the fifth in as many games.

Tottenham Hotspur

Previously unbeaten Spurs have suffered back-to-back defeats against Chelsea and Wolves despite opening the scoring in both matches.

The Lilywhites last lost three league games in a row at the beginning of last year, a run that included defeats against Chelsea and Wolves.

They have conceded a league-high six goals in second-half stoppage time this season, including each of their last four.

Son Heung-min has scored five goals in six Premier League appearances against Aston Villa but all five came at Villa Park.

Aston Villa

Villa have equalled the club record of 21 Premier League victories in a calendar year, set in 1998. They last won 22 top-flight games in a single year in 1980.
Their tally of 19 points from eight league matches since the September international break is the highest in the division.

However, Unai Emery’s side have only managed two wins in their past 10 away league games (D3, L5).

Aston Villa have the second best goalscoring record in the division prior to this weekend’s fixtures but only six of their 29 goals have come away.

They are unbeaten in their five Premier League visits to London since a 3-0 defeat at Fulham in Steven Gerrard’s final game in charge 13 months ago (W3, D2).

Emery is unbeaten in all five league matches versus Spurs, although his Arsenal side lost 2-0 at home in a 2018-19 League Cup quarter-final.

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