With Aston Villa returning to the scene of Alex McLeish’s famous tactical mishap at White Hart Lane, a Tottenham team that beat Manchester United will certainly be a stern test for the club from B6.
Villa will no doubt be looking for a strong performance after last week’s derby day draw against West Bromwich Albion where we dominated most of the statistics, barring of course the statistic that matters – the final score.
It’ll be about chances converted more than created
Whilst Albion are flying high in the league at present, Spurs will not let Villa have as many chances as they managed last week in the derby. One of the primary focuses will be how Villa take their chances – perhaps pointing to the starting of Darren Bent – so that chances created can be converted. Spurs conceded a lot of the game to United, or rather United fashioned many chances – sixteen in total – with Spurs managing a meagre 26% of the possession.
That’s right, twenty six percent possession. Had Villa ever managed an amount that low, fans would be screaming bloody murder. In the total passing statistics, Spurs faired no better with only 243 attempted compared to a massive 700 by United, though Spurs 77% completion rate was far from poor, just a fair amount less than United’s 90%.
All this only serve to illustrate that domination of statistics means nothing however, and Villa need to make more of their chances, especially against the top teams. As mentioned above, part of this may be a prime reason for deploying Bent – due to his conversion rate – though a big part of me questions how many opportunities Spurs are going to let us have in the twelve yard area Bent normally operates. Couple this with Spurs’ prior knowledge of Bent as a player from his time at the club, and it may not be as obvious as a guaranteed start for Villa’s number nine.
We’re Aston Villa though, not Manchester United
All that said, Villa’s game plan may well be based on making the most out of not very much as I highly doubt we will manage a 90% completion rate on passes, what with Spurs likely to break up play as well as attack strongly due to their position as the home team.
Spurs will have to manage their options minus Scott Parker however as the England international has had a flare up of his achilles following surgery in the summer. Parker will be joined on the sidelines by Kyle Naughton (foot), Jake Livermore (groin), as well as pair Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul who are both suffering with knee injuries.
Comparatively speaking, Villa have only two players unavailable in Stephen Ireland (broken arm) and Richard Dunne (groin). Stiliyan Petrov is, of course, unavailable, but isn’t listed on Villa’s injury list.
The view of the Aston Villa manager
Paul Lambert on Villa’s striker selection headache – “If I could pick everyone I would but I can’t and I just try and pick a team which might get a result. I understand people’s frustration (at not playing) but I try and honestly select the team. Some of the best players in the world have been left out, Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo. I dropped Grant Holt last season at Norwich. If you are going on about Darren, I don’t have one problem whatsoever. He didn’t knock on my door. That’s why I don’t think there is a problem. I’m pretty sure if Darren has a problem he would come in and see me and he hasn’t.”
Stat attack – courtesy of Yahoo Eurosport
Tottenham have had a player sent off in each of their last two Premier League visits to Villa Park.
Emmanuel Adebayor has scored six goals in eight Premier League starts against Aston Villa including four in his last three.
The six goals netted by Adebayor against Aston Villa is his joint-highest haul against any opponent in the Premier League, along with Blackburn, Derby and Tottenham.
Spurs have lost none of their last seven Premier League games against Aston Villa (W4 D3 L0).
Spurs have won 14 and lost just two of their last 21 Premier League matches at White Hart Lane. One of those defeats was masterminded by then Norwich boss Paul Lambert (2-1 in April).
Aston Villa have scored just five goals in their last 11 Premier League away matches, winning none and losing six in that run.
Spurs have conceded the highest proportion of second half goals in the Premier League (88%).
Tottenham have won six and lost one of their last 10 Premier League matches.
Aston Villa have won just one of their last 16 Premier League games (W1 D7 L8).
Five points after six games is Aston Villa’s worst start to a Premier League season.
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