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Key events
18 mins: Cash gives away a free kick on the Villa right. Porro curls it in, Lenglet heads it out.
15 mins: Bissouma gives the ball away to Watkins with a terrible pass not far outside the Spurs penalty area, and he passes on to Tielemans, whose shot is straight into a defender.
12 mins: It looks like Watkins is going to pull through. He celebrates by kicking Romero.
11 mins: Villa are letting Spurs pass the ball across their own backline, and the contrast between the two presses is the game’s notable feature thus far.
9 mins: Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually they get a free kick. Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually they get another free kick, when really Bissouma pretty cleanly dispossessed mcGinn. They need to deal with this problem pretty smartly.
9 mins: Watkins still isn’t moving well. He’s trying to run it off, but hasn’t succeeded yet.
7 mins: Spurs attack now, but the final cross from the right lands on the roof of the net.
5 mins: Watkins runs clear, and as he gets into the area he’s absolutely steamrollered by Van de Ven! The referee isn’t remotely interested – Van de Ven benefited from a poor touch from Watkins, got to the ball first and tried to boot it into touch, but he very nearly missed it entirely, getting only a minor connection on the ball and a major connection with the Villa striker in his follow-through. Watkins requires some treatment.
4 mins: Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually the ball goes out for a goal kick. Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, but eventually they win a free-kick. Villa try to play the ball out but Spurs press, they look terribly uncomfortable, and eventually the ball goes out for a throw-in.
2 mins: Villa have sprung a surprise back five on us. They’re also currently taking a spectacular amount of time over a throw-in.
1 min: Peeeeep! Spurs get the game started.
Preambles and precursors almost complete. Before kick-off, a minute’s applause for Chris Nicholl, who died last month.
The players are in the tunnel! “Although it is rather unlikely, Villa still have to play the clubs above them in the table, so if Liverpool and City draw, and then Arsenal and City draw and Villa win all their remaining games for a maximum of 88 points, they could snatch the title at the death assuming the others drop a few more points along the way,” writes Rick Harris. “Not saying they are in the tile race at the moment but win today and they might end up two or even three points closer to third place.” This is all true, and also spectacularly and deliciously optimistic.
Unai Emery is jolly excited. He talks a lot about opportunities:
At the moment they have one match in hand but we are more or less together and we have to try to show our potential, our capacity against this team. This is the opportunity we have.
Ange Pestecoglu meanwhile looks pretty glum and spends his entire interview looking at his shoes.
It’s a big game, a team that’s directly above us in the table and they’re a good side but it is one of 12, there’s still plenty of football to be played.
“So happy to have these two games today,” writes Will Oliver. “Villa fan since 1992 when we first got those weekly EPL highlights here in the US. We finished second to Man U and it’s been mediocre stuff since then. But Emery is such a positive guy, the team is so happy and eager. I don’t care if we finish fourth or fifth, it’s been such a joyful ride this year. Got me through some rough moments. And then Man City v Liverpool? Not a bad Sunday.” That’s the kind of sunny attitude I’m looking for, Will.
It’s a wet afternoon in Birmingham, and Ange Pestecoglu doesn’t look terribly excited to be there.
Inevitably, Sky’s build-up to this match has entirely consisted of discussing the game at Anfield that follows it.
The teams
The teams have been named, and here are those names:
Aston Villa: Martinez, Konsa, Torres, Lenglet, Cash, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Digne, Bailey, Tielemans, Watkins. Subs: Diego Carlos, Alex Moreno, Diaby, Zaniolo, Duran, Olsen, Rogers, Kesler-Hayden, Iroegbunam.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski, Maddison, Johnson, Son. Subs: Hojbjerg, Dragusin, Emerson, Werner, Lo Celso, Bentancur, Davies, Austin, Scarlett.
Referee: Christopher Kavanagh.
Preamble
Hello world! There’s an absolutely massive game this afternoon which is inevitably overshadowing everything else, but on any ordinary Sunday this would be a key and deliciously juicy fixture: two great, big clubs with recently barren trophy cabinets fighting for a chance to play in Europe’s premier competition next season. A home win would take Villa, currently fourth, eight points clear of Spurs in fifth (who would have a game in hand, to be fair), a gap that with 10 (or 11) games remaining looks genuinely daunting.
Promising signs, for the neutral: Ollie Watkins has seven goals in his last six league games and Villa’s last seven domestic fixtures (there was an inconvenient goalless draw at Ajax in midweek which we’ll overlook) have seen an average of 4.3 goals each; Spurs last kept a clean sheet against a team that isn’t Burnley way back in December and since their superb early-season form fell apart on Halloween (or thereabouts) have managed only two. There will, surely, be goals. (If the season started on 1 November Spurs would have played 16 league matches, winning 24 points and just once away, and sit ninth; Villa would have played 17, won 33 points, and still be fourth).
Here’s Ben Fisher’s thing to look out for in this game:
When the team news dropped 75 minutes before kick-off at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Thursday, it offered a major indication of Unai Emery’s thinking and quite how significantly he views Tottenham’s visit to Villa Park on Sunday. John McGinn, the captain, in-form forward Leon Bailey and full-backs Matty Cash and Alex Moreno began the game on the bench, with 20-year-old midfielder Tim Iroegbunam given his second start, almost two years after his full debut. Spurs trail fourth-placed Villa by five points but have a game in hand so a home victory would establish a welcome buffer between them and their nearest challengers for a Champions League place. Villa won the reverse fixture in November courtesy of Pau Torres and Ollie Watkins goals and a repeat would be priceless.
Anyway, welcome! Here’s to a fun one.
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