Tottenham v Villa preview: Team news, where to watch, supercomputer prediction
Tottenham Hotspur face an inconvenient encounter with Aston Villa on Friday, with attention firmly on the Europa League final.
Spurs’ season petered out long ago, but they have the unenviable task of facing a side chasing Champions League football ahead of their huge Bilbao trip.
Ange Postecoglou’s side heads to Villa Park as overwhelming underdogs, but a result would give them a timely confidence boost.
Preview
Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace means they only have one Premier League win in their last 10, but in truth, their domestic season ended long ago.
A meeting with Unai Emery’s side is not ideal, considering they are fully focused on a top-five finish.
Conceding goals has been a primary issue for the North London club, and they have the joint fifth-worst defence in the league, having conceded 59 goals.
| Club | Goals conceded |
| Southampton | 82 |
| Leicester City | 78 |
| Ipswich Town | 77 |
| Wolves | 64 |
| Tottenham | 59 |
| West Ham United | 59 |
As for Villa, they possess a host of players who could hurt Tottenham and will look to exploit Spurs’ backline.
The Lilywhites have no threat of dropping into the relegation zone, while a win could lift them as high as 14th, with Villa potentially moving up to fourth.
Form guide (Premier League)
Aston Villa: WWLWW
Tottenham: LLLDL
Team news
Tottenham’s injury list has been growing by the week in what has been a season severely disrupted.
Dejan Kulusevski is the latest man to visit the treatment room and has undergone surgery on his right knee, which he injured against Palace.
Lucas Bergvall (ankle) and James Maddison (knee) will both be absent and will play no further part in Spurs’ campaign.
Postecoglou has confirmed that Son Heung-Min will play some part after returning from a foot injury suffered against the Eagles.
Elsewhere, Timo Werner remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Radu Dragusin and Dane Scarlett are out for the season.
For Villa, Marcus Rashford misses out with a hamstring injury, and Jacob Ramsey will be absent through suspension.
Youri Tielemans is unlikely to play a part and could be out for the season after sustaining a muscle injury.
Predicted line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Kamara, Onana, Rogers, Asensio, McGinn, Watkins
Tottenham: Vicario, Gray, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bentancur, Sarr, Bissouma, Odobert, Moore, Solanke
Where to watch
The Premier League match can be watched on Sky Sports Premier League, with kick-off scheduled for 19:30.
Supercomputer prediction
Tottenham are given just a 16 per cent chance of winning the game, with a draw 21.7 per cent likely, according to Opta’s supercomputer.
As for the Villans, they have a 66.3 per cent chance of victory, making them clear favourites to bag all three points.