The State of Play
Aston Villa come into this one on the back of a goalless draw with Ajax at the Johann Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam in the first-leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie during the week. The Villains, coached by former Villarreal boss Unai Emery, have been much-improved in the Premier League of late with a 3-2 win against Luton Town meaning they have enjoyed three successive victories.
Tottenham Hotspur have been underwhelming in the last couple of months but they have still managed to squeeze out a few victories in that time. The best example of that was last weekend when they went a goal down to an Eberechi Eze free kick against Crustal Palace but they managed a 3-1 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with goals from Timo Werner, Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min.
Read our other Champions League news stories here:
Manchester City vs FC Copenhagen: Preview and prediction
Bayern Munich: Rummenigge plays down Xabi Alonso reports
Real Madrid: Camavinga claims no knowledge of Mbappe agreement
Team News
Aston Villa have some long-term absentees such as Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara and Emi Buendia but the Villains did welcome Diego Carlos back into the squad this week. Jacob Ramsey is also a doubt for this weekend.
Tottenham have a couple of key doubts for this weekend with both Pedro Porro and Richarlison potentially unavailable, whilst Fraser Forster, Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon all out injured.
Expected Line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Alex Moreno; Tielemans, Douglas Luiz; Bailey, McGinn, Diaby; Watkins
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario; Royal, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bentancur, Sarr; Kulusevski, Maddison, Werner; Son
What they Said
In the aftermath of their goalless draw with Ajax, Unai Emery said he was ‘relieved’ to have survived the game with a draw and said they did not play well in the Dutch capital on Thursday evening.
Ange Postecoglou was quick to praise German forward Timo Werner after he scored his first Tottenham goal last week. “He kept taking on the full-back and I thought apart from the missed chance his general play was really good.”
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at Villa Park at 13:00 on Saturday March 9th and will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK. It will be able to be streamed live via the Sky Go app.
Prediction
Fifth spot could well be enough to ensure UEFA Champions League qualification this season as a result of the competition being expanded but it remains a risk for either of these two sides to fall into the trap of falling back onto that. They will both go for the three points at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon and we really could have a thriller in store with both teams scoring seeming very likely.
