Trailing visitors Tottenham Hotspur by three pointTrailing visitors Tottenham Hotspur by three points following two consecutive league defeats by a 1-0 scoreline, it certainly has a must-win feel about it considering Villa have recently lost ground on the top seven.
As both of those defeats came away from home, the Villans should be more comfortable returning to familiar surroundings having just won five consecutive home PL fixtures ‘to nil’ for the first time.
However, there’s a worrying trend that they must overcome to stay in the hunt for European qualification as they haven’t beaten Tottenham here since January 2008 (D2, L10).
Harry Kane has had much to do with that, scoring four goals in those fixtures, and after netting against Crystal Palace (W 1-0) he became the PL’s second-highest scorer behind Alan Shearer.
With him on form, Spurs are now seeking a strong finish having ended a four-game winless run (D1, L3) by keeping their first league clean sheet since late February.
Villa Park may be one of Tottenham’s favourite venues, but they haven’t won a PL road game since late January (D2, L4), although that sequence has certainly provided plenty of entertainment, producing an eye-catching average of 4.67 goals per game.
If that continues, the North London outfit could extend a run of scoring at least twice in each of the last eight H2Hs here, all of which they won.
Players to watch: Villa’s Ollie Watkins has scored twice against Spurs, both strikes in games that produced exactly three goals.
Tottenham talisman Kane’s 209th top-flight goal took him past Wayne Rooney in the PL goalscorer standings and his last three goals all arrived between the 35th and 50th minute.
Hot stat: No team has conceded more often inside the opening 15 minutes of PL games this term than Tottenham (13 times).s following two consecutive league defeats by a 1-0 scoreline, it certainly has a must-win feel about it considering Villa have recently lost ground on the top seven.
