Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[rutski]

are villa playing tonight??? the way sky sports and talksport have had it i thought just spuds were at home having a kickabout between themselves? Strange old me misunderstanding the situation?

[exiled on the wirral!]

Has anyone backed the villa tonight? Cant make my mind up whether to put a tenner on the villa or whether i will just be wasting money. 6/1 with sky bet is very tempting!

[Deano's Mullet]

14/1 William Hill  Villa to win 2-1 but cant see it happening to be honest

[Mark H]

Cannot see us getting anything out of this game - and Spurs are right up there with teams I really really want to beat

[pauliewalnuts]

Has anyone backed the villa tonight? Cant make my mind up whether to put a tenner on the villa or whether i will just be wasting money. 6/1 with sky bet is very tempting!

No, but I tell you what I have had.

Kyle Walker to score for one (it'd be sods law), and am just about to take Hutton to get sent off, at 25/1 with Paddy Power.

[exiled on the wirral!]

Has anyone backed the villa tonight? Cant make my mind up whether to put a tenner on the villa or whether i will just be wasting money. 6/1 with sky bet is very tempting!

No, but I tell you what I have had.

Kyle Walker to score for one (it'd be sods law), and am just about to take Hutton to get sent off, at 25/1 with Paddy Power.
 
A bad night in prospect then... I will buy a curry instead then!

[PeterWithesShin]

Really hope i'm wrong but got a feeling we might be in for a fair old runaround tonight.
So, do I just check in on here and pretty much ignore the game, or go to the Strathallan and watch it and have a side order of alcohol to go with my misery?

[Toronto Villa]

In an ideal world Hutton will do what he did to Shane Long 5 mins in, and we can stop worrying about Bale v Hutton for the rest of the evening.

thing is we'll be down to 10 men and they'll just bring on Modric or someone of equal ability to replace the injured Bale. We need Hutton to stay on his feet and play the game for once.

[Chipsticks]

Spurs 0-1 Villa
Gabby 81'.


Fuck 'em, we're Aston Villa.

[PeterWithesShin]

Spurs 0-1 Villa
Gabby 81'.


Fuck 'em, we're Aston Villa.

I tried that trick for the Man City game and it didn't work too well. So now i'm switching to reverse psychology!

[Rigadon]

I fucking hate Spurs (I may have said) but I'm not expecting much tonight.

They're quite beatable though and we're not that bad. Expecting to lose but you never know.
It would stick in the craw of the media who are running with the "Spurs go third with a win" like it's the most straightfoward formality.
Come on Villa, cheer me right up by putting these peacocks down.

Lets see if Bent can shove that Dodgy bastards words right back down his throat.

Well said Mazrim.  I too loathe Spurs and it'd be ace for Bent to get one.  They are average at the back so I hope we show some ambition going forward without leaving massive holes for their usual array of ball playing (the spurs way of course) poseurs. 

Joe Jordan was in the Guardian today saying how he thought Defoe was a better bet for England and that Bent needed to prove himself between now and the end of the season.  Might've been poetic license form the journalist but it came across as a little sneering.  So, add him to the disappointed Spurs bench when he gets the winner.

Would add that I almost expect Hutton to get sent off. 

[Rigadon]

Nice to get back to talking about football and looking forward to watching a game of it*




* Disclaimer - I reserve the right to change my mind at 9.50pm this evening.

[Legion]

From Auntie:

TEAM NEWS

Tottenham are hopeful that Rafael van der Vaart will recover from a hamstring injury in time to face Aston Villa.

Vedran Corluka is expected to overcome an ankle problem but Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson are still out.

Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor is back in training after the hamstring problem he suffered on England duty.

Captain Stiliyan Petrov is fit after a similar injury but on-loan midfielder Jermaine Jenas is ineligible to face his parent club.

MATCH PREVIEW

Regardless of Harry Redknapp's anticipated return to the dugout on Monday, his Tottenham team will take to the pitch in good heart.

An unbeaten run that has yielded 22 points from 24 has propelled Spurs to the cusp of the top four and the Champions League qualification they crave.

They continued their resurgence with a fortuitous victory at Fulham before the international break in a fraught match which will have done little to aid Redknapp's convalescence after minor surgery to unblock his arteries.

The visit of Villa could be more medicinal. They have only won at White Hart Lane once in a decade, and Redknapp is unbeaten in his last 10 Premier League matches against them.

With Villa sitting eighth in the table prior to the weekend, Alex McLeish would appear to have made a decent start to his managerial reign at the club. However, he and the club's supporters are acutely aware that the fixture computer gave Villa a relatively gentle start to the campaign.

Not so between now and the end of the year, when they will face Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea and visit Stoke. They will do well to still look in rude health after that punishing sequence.
MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

    Tottenham are unbeaten in their last five league matches against Aston Villa. Spurs recorded 2-1 victories home and away last season, with Rafael van der Vaart scoring twice on both occasions and Marc Albrighton netting Villa's goal each time.
    Villa's only win in their last 11 league visits to Tottenham was by 2-1 in September 2008 when Nigel Reo-Coker and Ashley Young scored for Villa. Current Villa forward Darren Bent scored for Tottenham.
    Harry Redknapp is unbeaten in his last 10 Premier League matches against Aston Villa since Portsmouth's 1-0 defeat at Villa Park in March 2006.

Tottenham

    Tottenham have made their best start to a season since 1990, when they also had 22 points from 10 matches.
    They are unbeaten in their last eight league matches, winning seven.
    Spurs have scored at least twice in each of those eight matches.
    Jermain Defoe has scored three goals in his last four home league matches against Villa.
    Brad Friedel made 114 consecutive league appearances for Aston Villa from 2008 to 2011, keeping 35 clean sheets.

Aston Villa

    Villa are winless in their last five Premier League away matches since a 2-1 triumph at Arsenal in May.
    They have dropped a league-high nine points from winning positions this season.
    The Villans are unbeaten in all six league matches against London clubs in 2011. Tottenham were the last London club to beat them, winning 2-1 at Villa Park on Boxing Day 2010.
    Darren Bent scored 18 goals in 60 league matches for Tottenham from 2007 to 2009. He has scored four goals in six league matches against them.
    Stephen Ireland could make his 200th club career appearance.

[Shrek]

Spurs are not all that, yes they are quality but they are no Man City and we are not as bad as it seemed we were a few weeks ago.

I'm going 0-1 with Gabby setting up a Bent sitter. We then defend for 70 mins with Dunne clearing off the line in the 93rd minute.

COME ON VILLA!

[l_mckay]

not looking forward to this,lets hope we can put a good performance in and hold on for a draw!!