Match Preview: Spurs on Sunday

Who are we playing?
Tottenham Hotspur

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
You can. Plenty of tickets available

Can I watch it on the telly?
If you must, it's the big Sky game of the week at 4pm.

Do Spurs have any famous fans?

Well there's Chas n Dave but we've got Tom Hanks, so we win.

Who's playing for us?
Tough to say till we see who comes back from international duty unscathed, but Big Chris has recovered enough to train with Belgium. Of more concern is Kozak and Helenius, neither were fit enough to even make the bench for Friday's internationals, though better news on Tuesday as Nicklas returned to the bench while Libor played the full ninety.

Who's playing for them?
A multitude of stars are available to AVB, but he's still to find a convincing combination as new players bed in. As with us, his hand may be forced by who comes back from international duty unhurt.

Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

• In March 1966, the two teams took part in an epic ten goal thriller.

• Spurs have won the last two Villa Park encounters, both by four goals to nil.

• Spurs beat us 2-0 in the 1971 League Cup Final, but we were in the third tier of English football in those days while they were lauding it in the top flight.

• We played Spurs again at Wembley in the 1981 Charity Shield, drawing 2-2. Mark Falco scored both Spurs goals and Peter Withe got ours.

• Tottenham Hotspur first played Aston Villa on 11th April 1896 when Spurs were still in the Southern League. The friendly match played at Tottenham Marshes ended with a 3-1 win for Aston Villa. Three more friendlies were played until the clubs met in competitive action for the first time in the Third Round of the FA Cup in March 1903 with Villa running out 3-2 victors

He said, She said...
Coming soon...

Prediction:
We'd be amazed if another 4-0 thumping was on the cards but this will a difficult match and no mistake. We're expecting Spurs to come at us and it might well play into our hands, especially if Benteke returns. We're hoping for a win but predicting a 2-2 draw.