Aston Villa v Tottenham ‘Spursy’ Pre Match Thread. Saturday 5.30pm.

[TonyD]

Easy 3 points.
For Spurs.

[Beard82]

I fancy is here for some unknown reason. 

Think SG will have us hitting the ground running,  I’m going 2-1

Little Phil and Watkins to score

[Rigadon]

A few will be playing for a move / their futures.  If Gerrard can channel that and get the most from the ones who are going to (hopefully) be here next year and we have nowt to fear.  I hate Spurs.

[Steve67]

Hope for the best but expecting the worst to be honest. They are inconsistent too but we seem to be the most benevolent of teams. The only consistent thing about Villa is the size of the crowd!  Win ya feckers!

[chrisw1]

Suprs to stroll it without breaking sweat.  Son to get a brace as I swapped him out for Kane in my FPL team last week.

[JD]

My Brother who is a massive Spurzzz fans is always moaning about how just when they look good they lose to a poor team.
So 2-1 to Villa then.

[spartacuss]

Unless Emi Martinez has the game of his life, we're in for a Kaning from Tatering Hotspuds. They looked fully committed and on their game last weekend with a big CL incentive, unlike...
1 - 3, if we're lucky.

[brontebilly]

Spurs in very good form at the moment, we are off the back of three straight defeats. Blind optimism but I think we will win as a result. Spurs like Arsenal are flaky when at this stage of the season. All the pressure is on them. So at a minimum, no sitting off them like we did v Arsenal. Likes of Dier, Doherty, Davies are no world beaters if put under pressure.

Luiz will come back in. Watkins always struggles against three centre backs so think we need to try something different and get players near him. McGinn played very well v Spurs last year given a bit of a free role to press them. Have been saying it all season but get him away from sitting deep and push him forward. I'd also ask Ramsey to play a much more disciplined role in midfield. He needs to contribute a lot more defensively and to the general midfield play.

-------------Martinez
Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne
----Sanson, Luiz, Ramsey
McGinn, Watkins, Coutinho

[Mister E]

Struggling to raise the enthusiasm for a 1730 k-o and the 2 hours drive each way, against a side that perennially beat us.

[Scovilla]

Isn't Marv fit for this game? I thing SG is desperate to bring him on.

[Villa Lew]

Couldn't have been meeting them at a worse time 2 nil Spurs.

[SoccerHQ]

Isn't Marv fit for this game? I thing SG is desperate to bring him on.

He should be on the bench, if he starts he won't be lasting more than an hour.

Not sure how the team is going to look as feels like Ollie or Ings upfront on their own and they'd just get submerged by their three CBs. One of Bentancur or Hojiberg will likely sit on Coutinho. Perhaps we'll start Buendia aswell but would leave us outnumbered in central midfield unless he plays deep.

And with form Kane is in he'll find all sorts of space between our defence and midfield and dragging out Mings or Konsa for Son to run into.

Probably one of Gerrard's most difficult selections since becoming our manager as it feels a bit of a nightmare match up.

I wouldn't actually be against bringing in Chambers and switching to 3-5-2 and just matching them up and seeing what happens but then I assume it's a formation Gerrard hasn't played in his managerial career so would be alien to him compared to Conte who uses it at every club he manages.

[Rigadon]

I want to see us look like the home side at the very least. 

[levico]

Just Nah. 0-3

[Risso]

Villa 3 - Spurs 1