Spurs Should Not Underestimate Aston Villa

Thanks to a hefty amount of rotation against Borussia Dortmund on Thursday, Mauricio Pochettino should be able to name an almost full strength Spurs squad for the trip to Aston Villa.

Jan Vertonghen is the only player absolutely out of contention for Spurs, though it’s very unlikely that a still recovering Clinton Njie features in any way in the matchday squad. Danny Rose and Dele Alli could start from the bench, but Pochettino might be reluctant to push either player as they both attempt to overcome minor injuries.

That said, Pochettino will be able to name Eric Dier and Harry Kane, both of whom got at least some rest for the week. Mousa Dembélé and Érik Lamela should both also return to the starting XI. With Toby Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen also in attendance, this is about as strong a set of options that Pochettino has had so far in 2016.

And it will all be set against the worst team in the Premier League on Sunday. Villa have had a truly horrific time of it so far this season, thanks in no small part to the often confused and temperamental management of Spurs’ folk hero Tim Sherwood.

The departures of Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph over the summer gave Sherwood a lot of room to express himself and his particular football nous. Finally we would be able to see what he could do with a summer transfer window and a full offseason of training.

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Unfortunately for Villa fans, the Englishman’s game turned out to be predictably tactless and guileless. The players that were brought in each seem to successfully embody individually one aspect of modern football – Rudy Gestede’s aerial ability, Jordan Amavi’s aggressive full-back play, Idrissa Gueye’s multi-dimensional efforts in midfield – but in Sherwood’s attempt at a system they never seemed to meaningfully click. They’ve won just three times this season, having lost 19 other matches.

New coach Remy Garde hasn’t had time to address any of these issues. The harmony that a team needs to put up any kind of fight against such an organized and well-equipped side as Spurs is almost entirely absent.

That alone shouldn’t mean that Pochettino or anyone else at the club come to Villa Park on Sunday expecting a pushover win. Even if Garde might not know what his best team is or how to use his most talented players, the added incentive of relegation has ways to galvanizing teams in the dying months of the season. Coming into such contests with any kind of chip on your shoulder is basically asking to be humiliated.

So what does Spurs need to prepare for?

For one, they need to steel themselves for something that they have not often seen this season: a big man/little man set up. Gestede and Jordan Ayew – both of whom are likely to start – might not be, say, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe, but they can still be dangerous in combination. They’re each on five goals for the season and represent very different threats to Spurs’ centre-back pairing. They will need to watch for long balls directed into the path of an onrushing Ayew while watching for Gestede to latch on to similar such passes.

Meager as their totals might be, those two players represent the most potent weapons in Villa’s arsenal. That’s not to say that they’re without quality elsewhere though. The aforementioned Amavi is injured and won’t feature on Sunday, but Gueye and fellow newly arrived midfielder Jordan Veretout are legitimately promising players just waiting to come good. That they haven’t yet has more to do with the quality around them than their own abilities.

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If Spurs are going to make any concentrated defensive effort anywhere besides the striker pair, it’ll probably be these two midfielders. Shutting off the passing lanes of Veretout in particular – the Frenchman already has five assists, most of which were crosses – will be particularly important.

Villa’s own defense is nothing to write home about, though they will try to create a layered effort to hold back an almost fully equipped Spurs attack. Kane and company shouldn’t be too concerned though.