Tottenham v Aston Villa: Preview, Team News, KO, TV And More…..
By Logan Holmes
The final match of the season as Tottenham play Aston Villa needing a point to finish 6th in the Premier League and secure a place in next season’s Europa League.
[Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]
Up-date:
Team: Lloris; Naughton, Chiriches, Dawson, Rose; Sandro; Sigurdsson, Paulinho, Eriksen; Adebayor, Kane Subs: Friedel, Fryers, Veljkovic, Bentaleb, Capoue, Pritchard, Soldado
Final Match of the Season
Tottenham finish their season at White Hart Lane against Aston Villa who have had concerns about relegation in recent weeks. Spurs have already beaten them twice this season at Villa Park and will want to make it a hat-trick of wins and extend their unbeaten run against them to 12 games. Their last defeat by Villa was at home in September, 2008 in the final weeks of Juande Ramos’ time as manager.
Spurs bring the season to a close at White Hart Lane for the fourth successive year, having won the final game against Birmingham City, Fulham and Sunderland on the previous three occasions.
Home League Record Against Aston Villa (inc. PL)
P 70 W 36 D 14 L 20 For 135 Ag 102
Premier League Record Against Villa at White Hart Lane
P 21 W 10 D 7 L 4 For 32 Ag 22
This Season
Spurs won 4 – 0 at Villa Park in the Capital One Cup in September with goals by Jermain Defoe (2), Paulinho and Nacer Chadli’s first goal for the club. The following month, they won 2 – 0 in the league with Andros Townsend scoring his first league goal of the season and Roberto Soldado scoring the first of his two league goals from open play.
Last Season at The Lane
Spurs recorded a 2 – 0 win in Hugo Lloris first Premier League game. Steven Caulker with his first Spurs goal and Aaron Lennon getting the goals.
Date: Sunday, 11th May, 2014
Kick-off Time: 3.00pm (UK time)
TV Channel: Sky Sports
On the final day, all games kick-of at 3pm and with all other issues, apart from the title race between Manchester City and Liverpool settled, Spurs game against Villa is being televised with the final Europa League place being up for grabs between Spurs and Manchester United. Spurs need a point to be certain of competing in Europe next season while United need to win their game and hope that Spurs lose to enable them to move level on points and into 6th place with a better goal difference.
Villa are 15th with 38 points in what has been a disappointing season as they flirted with relegation in recent weeks. They lost 4 – 0 at Manchester City in mid-week but held out until the 64th minute against the Champions-elect only to concede two goals in 8 minutes and a further two in the final minute.
Villa have won 4 away games, opening the season with an unexpected 3 – 1 success at the Emirates. They won 1 – 0 at Norwich in September and the following week defeated Manchester City 3 – 2 for their first home win. In December they won 3 – 2 at Southampton but haven’t won away since a 1 – 0 success on New Year’s Day at Sunderland, although they drew 2 – 2 in their next away game at Liverpool.
Two home wins in March against Norwich and Chelsea improved their position but in the last 8 games they have taken only 4 points which has seen them slip from a mid-table position. Their only win was over Hull last weekend.
Their leading goalscorer is Christian Benteke with 11 goals but he has been out for a number of weeks with a serious injury. Andreas Weimann has scored 6 goals in all competitions, including two in the win over Hull which secured their Premier League place. Leandro Bacuna has scored 5 goals.
With changes expected at White Hart Lane in the summer, Tim Sherwood will want to finish with a win to secure the European place. Spurs will need an improvement from last weekend’s disappointing and lack-lustre display at West Ham.
Team News:
Spurs will have to make a change in central defence with Younes Kaboul suspended following his dismissal last week but only Etienne Capoue of the players on the injured list is reported to be available for selection. Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele, Erik Lamela, Andros Townsend and Nacer Chalsdi are sidelined.
Villa are also troubled by long-term injures with Benteke, Charles N’Zogbia, Libor Kozak and Jores Okore all out. Gabriel Agbonlahor could be available after injury, but Marc Albrighton is doubtful.
Tottenham should be capable of taking the three points but with it being the final game of the season, it will depend on how both sets of players apply themselves.