Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Venue: Villa Park
Kick off: 5:30PM
Tottenham Hotspur will be looking for their third straight Premier League victory when they travel to a struggling Aston Villa this afternoon.
Spurs have picked up seven points from their last three matches to move to within four points of fourth-placed Chelsea in the table, while Villa currently occupy 17th position in the division.
Seven wins and four draws from 25 matches this season has seen Villa collect 25 points, leaving them 17th in the Premier League table ahead of their clash with Jose Mourinho’s side.
Norwich City is just starting to be cut adrift at the bottom, but there are only three points between 19th-placed Watford and Brighton & Hove Albion in 15th, which is an indication of the type of season it has been.
Villa have had their moments this term, but there is no getting away from the fact that they have the joint-worst defensive record in the division alongside Norwich with 47 conceded.
Dean Smith’s side do have an EFL Cup final to look forward to at the start of next month, but they have only won one of their last four in the league and suffered a damaging 2-1 loss at Bournemouth last time out.
Jack Grealish will once again be looking to impress for Villa as the speculation surrounding the Englishman continues.
Indeed, Manchester United are thought to be interested in signing the 24-year-old, who has managed seven goals and five assists in 23 Premier League outings this term.
Tottenham, though, will certainly enter Sunday’s match in the better form.
Mourinho’s time at the club has been far from perfect but successive wins over Norwich City and Manchester City have put them in a good position.
Indeed, they are now just four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the table and will have the chance to cut that gap to a single point as the Blues are not in action until Monday night against Manchester United.
It would be some turnaround if Mourinho could lead Spurs to a top-four finish when considering their issues in the early stages of the campaign under a certain Mauricio Pochettino.
Tottenham is without an away win in the league since December 15, though, and only have the 14th-best record on their travels in the top flight this term, picking up just 11 points from 12 matches.
The capital outfit have won 10 of their last 11 meetings with Villa in all competitions, however, including a 3-1 success at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this season.
Aston Villa possible XI: Reina, Hause, Mings, Engels, Guilbert, Nakamba, Luiz, Targett, Grealish, Samatta, El Ghazi.
Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Tanganga, Lo Celso, Winks, Ndombele, Lucas, Son, Bergwijn.