Aston Villa v Tottenham Match Preview
Tottenham will want to avoid crashing out of two cups in the space of four days as they face Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round.
Spurs held a 1-0 lead over Liverpool from the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final but were crushed 4-0 at Anfield on Thursday and seeing another opportunity for a trophy pass them by at Villa Park would pile the pressure on Ange Postecoglou even further.
Postecoglou said after Thursday’s defeat: “I get the pile-on at the moment. It’s really easy for people to stick their boots in and question the players – but I don’t question.
“We were disappointed last night didn’t go the way we wanted and we didn’t perform at the levels – but that doesn’t define this group of players in my eyes.
“We’re an easy mark at the moment. Obviously, making a semi-final is an absolute disaster because we didn’t play well. I assume not making a semi-final would’ve put us in a better place.
“I have a great deal of belief in these players, what they’re going through and how they’re dealing with it.”
We exit the Carabao Cup. pic.twitter.com/CH5WtzC4mm
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 6, 2025
Villa are themselves licking their wounds from a disappointing defeat to rivals Wolves last time out but have had a full week to recover and will hope their flurry of new signings give them a boost against the North Londoners.
Marcus Rashford was the marquee signing of January after joining on loan from Manchester United, with Unai Emery also bolstering his squad with Marco Asensio, Donyell Malen, Axel Disasi and Andres Garcia.
Spurs have won their last two games against Villa by an aggregate margin of 8-1, including a 4-1 victory over Emery’s side in November. Since then, though, they have won just three three times in the league.
Villa v Spurs Team News
Rashford is in line to make his Villa debut in the cup and could even start up front after striker Ollie Watkins was ruled out for the Villans after going off at half-time against Wolves.
He joins Tyrone Mings, Pau Torres, Matty Cash and Ross Barkley on the absentee list, with new signing Disasi also missing out having featured for Chelsea in the third round.
Asensio could also make his Villa debut following his move from PSG, while Malen could add to his two Villa appearances so far.
Tottenham do not have any returning players for the game, with Richarlison the latest to join their huge injury list.
That means Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin, Wilson Odobert, Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson all miss out.
Mathys Tel, who replaced Richarlison early on at Liverpool, could get a first start following his move from Bayern Munich.
Villa v Spurs Expected Line-ups
Aston Villa: Olsen; Garcia, Konsa, Kamara, Maatsen; Tielemans, Onana; Asensio, McGinn, Ramsey; Rashford
Tottenham: Kinsky; Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence; Bissouma, Bentancur, Bergvall; Kulusevski, Tel, Son
Villa v Spurs – The stats
- In the last 7 Aston Villa home matches in the FA Cup, the sum of goals was over 2.5
- Aston Villa have lost 6 of the last 7 home matches in the FA Cup while scoring less than 1.5 goals
- Aston Villa have lost 6 of the last 7 home matches in the FA Cup and the sum of goals was over 2.5
- In 8 of the last 10 Aston Villa matches the sum of goals was over 2.5
- In 7 of the last 9 Aston Villa home matches the sum of goals was over 2.5
- In 9 of the last 11 Tottenham matches the sum of goals was over 2.5
- In the last 7 Tottenham matches in the FA Cup, the sum of goals was under 3.5
- In 5 of the last 7 Tottenham matches in the FA Cup, the sum of goals was under 1.5
- In the last 4 Tottenham away matches the sum of goals was over 2.5
- In the last 4 Tottenham away matches in the FA Cup, the sum of goals was under 3.5
How to watch Villa v Spurs
The match kicks off at 5:35pm and is available to watch in the UK on BBC One, as well being streamed on BBC iPlayer.
Villa v Spurs prediction
Spurs have won on nine of their last 10 trips to Villa but that is unlikely to count for much when Postecoglou’s men arrive low on confidence and numbers.
Villa are not exactly in top form but are unbeaten in 11 straight home games in all competitions. The extra rest should see Villa get the victory, which would leave the Europa League as Spurs’ last chance for a trophy.
Aston Villa 2-1 Tottenham
-
-
-
-
