Aston Villa v Spurs: Winning Ways Need to Return

After a disappointing defeat against West Ham at the Lane followed by the long international break, Tottenham get their Premier League season back under-way with a trip to Villa Park on Sunday to face Aston Villa.

We have done well in recent times against Paul Lambert’s side, including a 0-4 away victory earlier this year. However, the Villans will be boosted by the news that Christian Benteke could be returning. Spurs meanwhile will be without the quartet of Danny Rose, Etienne Capoue, Aaron Lennon, and Younes Kaboul. Andre Villas-Boas may recall Roberto Soldado to the first team, where the Spaniard will be looking to capitalise on Jermain Defoe’s poor performance against West Ham.

This season Villa have set up with a 4-3-3 and when fit and available have lined up with Andreas Weimann and Gabriel Agbonlahor in attack, spearheaded by Benteke.

These three and Libor Kozak, have been instrumental in the victories against Woolwich and Manchester City. Aston Villa, when playing the big teams, have relied on playing counter attacking football. In these two games they averaged 40.5% of possession, and were dominated in terms of passing, but they still scored 3 goals against tough opposition.

Agbonlahor possess great pace and is a threat on the counter attack, already providing 10 key passes and 2 assists in 6 league games so far this season. With Tottenham likely to dictate the play for large periods of the game, and playing a high line, we will need to be aware of the dangers posed by Villa.

Benteke is the obvious danger to Hugo Lloris’ goal with the Belgian netting in all games where he’s played the full 90 minutes, excluding a match against Liverpool. Benteke has tormented defences with his great pace, acceleration, and strength. However, one of his greatest attributes is his heading. Brad Guzan, the Villa keeper, to Benteke was the top pass combination for Aston Villa in matches against Woolwich, Chelsea, and Newcastle.

Below is the dashboard for the passes received by Benteke against Newcastle, his last 90 minutes in the league, it is clear he has the skill to bring the ball down from the air and keep possession from long balls so Michael Dawson and Jan Vertonghen will need to keep up concentration at all times. Even though Benteke is returning from injury, and may not start, he is still undoubtedly Villa’s  biggest threat.

This season Aston Villa may have improved their defence, but they still give away chances; especially from the right hand side. Our right sided attack is one of the best in the league, and could be the key to success in this game. Andros Townsend has been adding more variety to his game, crossing on his right foot rather than always cutting in and shooting on his left. This was particularly evident for both England games against Montenegro and Poland. This would be a good opportunity for Townsend and Walker to provide service to, hopefully, Soldado in the centre.

In conclusion, Aston Villa pose a great threat on the counter and have already won against top teams; we will need to be on top concentration to defeat them on Sunday. Villa create very few chances but they possess an excellent conversion rate.

However Spurs manage to expose their left-back and convert opportunities this match could get us back on winning ways.

[author name=”Jai B” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1659352356/IMAG0018.jpg” twitter=”Jai_B” tag=”JaiB[/linequote]