Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[Karl Bridges]

Gallas is out as well. King got injured in training, Bassong is the only fit CB they've got. n the back of a Champions league match I fancy us to snatch it 2-1.

[Irish villain]

They'll exploit our inability to keep hold of the ball and we'll be soundly beaten, two or three nil.

It has been encouraging to see how much progress was made under GH already, surely by the Spurs game he will have been in charge a little longer and so even more progress will have been made? Maybe the GH honeymoon period will continue with a good result against a Spurs side underperforming?

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Fancy us after there mid week game and injury problems think we will be well up for it Spurs 0 Villa 1 Gabby ........

[PeterWithesShin]

As i'm on a hot streak of one perfect prediction, i'm going to go with another 2-1 win.

[KRS]

I'll be happy with a point but we could leave WHL with all 3pts due to their injury problems with the back 4.

Defoe will be out (?) so they'll be looking to hit Crouch in the air, and LYoung/Warnock will have their work cut out trying to keep Bale/Lennon quiet.

Could be a very open end to end game. 2-2 or Villa to edge it 3-2.

[richard moore]

As usual whenever there tends to be mostly positive predictions on a pre match thread, the opposite usually happens (see Stoke!)

I'd be very happy with a point from this fixture despite all Spurs's injuries and them playing on wedneday night.

Main thing for me is we need to keep the ball much better than in the away games at Stoke and Wolves in the second half.

If we don't then the likes of Bale, Modric and VDV will hurt us big time.

2-1 Spurs.

This is about where I am on this one...

[*shellac*]

2-2 draw and the unbeaten run continues.

Ash & Heskey for us.

Pavlyuchenko (2) for them.

[CheeriOneill]

By rights on the basis we have a new lethal machine up front we should be too strong for Bassong and Charlie Chalk.

Would take a point though.

With Petrov gone and Sidwell worse what about Hogg?

Did ok in Vienna and looked the type of player we are missing, just lacking some games/experience.

[BannedUserIAT]

New manager, new coaches, new methods, confidence high, players hitting form, new training methods vs huge injury problems, coming off a midweek game, looking distinctly 'meh'.

If we can't beat this lot 3-0 there's something wrong.

[Chris Smith]

Houliier knows what he is doing so will not drop Petrov. We're still in a transition period so it is difficult to be confident and I'd be more than happy with a draw.

[Concrete John]

Draw I (optimistically) think.

Gezza started on Monday 20/9 and immediately had a midweek match to prepare for and then one on Sunday.  So this will be his first 'free' week where he can work on general stuff he wants to bring in in ernest before starting to get them ready for a match later in the week.  As such I would expect his tactical tweaks to have more effect and see us keep possession better, which will be useful away at Spurs.

I think three wins on the bounce is unlikely, hence my predicting a draw.  1-1 with Ash getting ours.

[Namaste]

Draw I (optimistically) think.

Gezza started on Monday 20/9 and immediately had a midweek match to prepare for and then one on Sunday.  So this will be his first 'free' week where he can work on general stuff he wants to bring in in ernest before starting to get them ready for a match later in the week.  As such I would expect his tactical tweaks to have more effect and see us keep possession better, which will be useful away at Spurs.

I think three wins on the bounce is unlikely, hence my predicting a draw.  1-1 with Ash getting ours.

I agree this week has to revolve around keeping possession in light of the teams we are facing over the next few games.

I think we can sneak a win against Spuds but only if we retain the ball better because if we have it they cannot score. Pretty simple really?

[Newquay_AVFC]

I also think lack of defenders and the midweek match will work in our favour, 3-1 Villa win, Heskey, NRC and Gabby for us. If anybody happens to be in mid Cornwall the match will be on live in The Western, St Austell.

[TimTheVillain]

Tough one this.

I will be happy with a draw, but think it will be a win for Spurz.

1-2 Spurz.

[Villa'Zawg]

Interesting to see the Guardian chalkboards. According to that, Petrov didn't give the ball away once . .

They must be wrong. I distinctly remember him running into one of their players and losing the ball.

It might be that every time he passed the ball it went to a Villa player, but he definitely gave it away at least once.

And (saying this as a big fan of Petrov) he can't have seen the ball more than half a dozen times in the second half to be able to give it away.

I think the incident you refer to was given as a foul. I genuinely do not understand the Petrov slagging after Sunday's game. I was seated upstairs at Wolves and I thought he did his job pretty well.  He made it very difficult for them to get anything through the middle to Doyle and was constantly available to link up play when we had the ball.