Shaky Spurs The Lesser Of Two Evils

Two of the Premier League’s poorest side’s in recent games, both Aston Villa and Spurs, need to turn their results around quickly and will both be desperate to pick up points at Villa Park on Sunday.

Form
Tottenham’s perennial problems with consistency have come to pass again this season with the phrase ‘one step forward two steps back’ coming to mind and their record of three wins, two draws and two losses in their last seven illustrating the point perfectly.

Both of those losses came in the Premier League as they followed a crushing 4-1 loss to Manchester City a fortnight ago with a galling 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle last weekend, and their tally of 11 points from nine games puts them just three points off the relegation places. Either side of those defeats they’ve earned wins in two different cup competitions, reaching the last eight of the Capital One Cup in midweek with a 2-0 win over Brighton where Harry Kane scored his fourth in two starts. The young striker now has seven goals in total this season, but none of them have come in the Premier League.

A 2-0 loss at QPR on Monday stretched Aston Villa’s run of defeats to five, and Paul Lambert’s side have failed to score in every one of them. Villa sat second after four games this season having picked up ten points from a possible 12 but after failing to add to that total or found the back of the net in their subsequent outings they’re now just two points ahead of Sunderland in 18th and three ahead of the R’s a further place back and scored the fewest goals in the top flight to boot.

Team News
Alan Hutton could return on the right of Villa’s back four after the Scot missed their defeat to QPR with an ankle problem but fellow defenders Phillippe Senderos and Nathan Baker are both likely to miss out after suffering more serious injuries. Fabian Delph and Libor Kozak are both out for lengthy spells with a dislocated shoulder and broken leg respectively.

Kyle Walker looks set to miss out for Spurs again with the full-back’s groin problem proving to be more difficult to shake off than first expected. Midfield duo Aaron Lennon and Nabil Bentelaub could be in contention following minor injuries. The question really is how much of what is seen as Mauricio Pochettino’s ‘second string’ keep their place following the fine performances of the likes of Kane, Andros Townsend and Ben Davies in cup competitions this season.

Head-to-Head

Spurs have won each of the last five games between these sides on an amazing aggregate score of 15-0.

Tottenham are unbeaten in their last 12 meetings with Villa while the home side haven’t beaten the Londoners at Villa Park since New Year’s Day in 2008.

Recommended Bets
Spurs certainly look the lesser of two evils in the match betting market at 21/20 here, even with Villa at a chunky 14/5 for a home win against a side just a point ahead in the table as Pochettino’s men have lost just once away from home this season – which may or may not be something to do with the size of the White Hart Lane pitch.

Lambert’s men can’t buy a goal and under 2.5 goals looks a decent price at 20/21 while Kane, should he get a chance from the start, is a good punt at 11/2 to open the scoring and 17/10 for a goal at any stage of the game.