Aston Villa versus Tottenham Hotspur - Preview
Both Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur return to action this boxing day after an unforeseen two weeks break. That break was caused by the snowy conditions that forced both Villa and Spur’s games against Wigan and Blackpool respectively, to be postponed.
This time around, they face off against each other in what is expected to be the game of the weekend, barring Arsenal's game against Chelsea from the equation which takes place on Monday by the way.
Aston Villa is a side who likes playing good attacking football with great wing play. And so is Tottenham Hotspur. Between them, the two sides have wingers like http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aaron-Lennon-c3062, some of the best
in English football. All of them are proper wingers who are encouraged to remain on the outsides and run the channels to put a cross in, and not like the modern day hybrids like http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nani-c27299 who would rather prefer to drift inside and fashion a chance
for themselves rather than waste their energy in crossing to a team mate.
And both teams have similar fire power upfront to nod in those crosses. Between them, they have four tall and towering strikers namely http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-c31639. Then both have the swift, fast and powerful attributes of
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gabriel-Agbonlahor-c14288 for Villa and Jermaine Defoe for Tottenham. So, the similarities between these two are many, but you do not need profound examination to determine that something has gone terribly wrong in the Villa camp this season.
They should’ve at least been a team pushing for the European places, yet they find themselves sitting in 15th place, in desperate need of a saviour. And http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Houllier has thus far failed to be Villa’s own personal Jesus Christ, as Villa have
endured a fall from grace after the enigmatic Martin O’Neil left for pastures anew. Houllier will certainly be praying to God for some Christmas miracles to make believers of the doubters. And to start, he will be hoping he can have Ashley and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luke-Young-c22938 back
for this game.
Tottenham, on the other hand, welcome back the trio of Rafael Van Der Vaart, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Younes-Kaboul-c37543 for this game. Van Der Vaart’s return especially is a big boost for the North London club who could do with his goal scoring antics of late. Tottenham
currently sit on 27 points, fifth in the league table. A win would bring them within a point of fourth place http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786. Tottenham need a win to ensure they stay in the running for the Barclays Premier League, even though pundits have already written them off,
citing their inexperience in such situations and Champions League distractions as major reasons.
A win for Villa and Houllier will definitely go a long way in instilling some confidence within the team, and inspire some belief in a team that seems at times faithless. But a loss would put Tottenham further behind in the title race, and that is something
Harry Redknapp knows he can't afford if he wants his team to be taken seriously and synonymously with the title favourites like United, Chelsea and Arsenal, and surely Redknapp will have no disillusions for the task at hand.
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