Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur

A place in European competition is at stake as Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur go head-to-head in a high-octane Premier League match-up.

Back-to-back 1-0 defeats at Wolverhampton and Manchester United have notably decreased Aston Villa’s chances of qualifying for major European competition for the first time since 2011, leaving Unai Emery’s side on the periphery of the top seven at the start of this round. But with sixth-placed Tottenham only three points away, Villa could rekindle their European hopes by completing their first league double over ‘Spurs’ since 1995/96 following a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture. That’s not beyond the realm of possibility, considering the ‘Lions’ have won their last five Premier League home matches without conceding and could make it six wins in a row at home in league action for the first time since 1993. But it’s worth noting that they’ve failed to find the net twice in a row after scoring in their first 20 Premier League outings under Emery.

Meanwhile, visiting Tottenham restored some confidence with a hard-earned 1-0 home triumph over cross-town rivals Crystal Palace last time out, arresting a dreadful run of four winless league matches (D1, L3). More importantly, that victory marked their first clean sheet in the Premier League since a 2-0 home win over Chelsea in February when they incidentally last registered back-to-back shutouts in the top flight. However, interim boss Ryan Mason faces an uphill task in Birmingham as his men come into proceedings winless on six consecutive Premier League travels (D2, L4), including a brace of losses at Liverpool and Newcastle United by an aggregate score of 10-4. Speaking of the visitors’ defensive woes, they’ve conceded 35 away goals in the Premier League this term, last shipping more in a single top-flight campaign in 2000/01.