Ryan Mason previews Villa: “We understand the type of game we’re going into”
Fri 12 May 2023, 18:15|
Tottenham Hotspur
Ryan Mason says the players know exactly what’s at stake at Villa Park on Saturday (3pm).
We travel to Birmingham in sixth in the Premier League, three points ahead of Villa in eighth, with Brighton between the teams in seventh, two points adrift of us but with two games in hand.
Victory would therefore take us six points clear of Villa with two matches remaining and continue to apply pressure on the teams above us as we challenge for European football with qualification to the three European competitions expected to go down to seventh place.
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Asked about the importance of the game, Ryan told SPURSPLAY: “I don’t think I need to speak too much about that to the group, we know that.”
Villa rose from 16th to sixth following Unai Emery’s arrival in November. They beat Manchester United in Emery’s first match and that run included wins against Brighton, us at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Chelsea and, impressively, a 3-0 win against Newcastle in April. Recent losses to United and Wolves saw them slip back down to eighth.
Ryan added: “In the last few months, Villa’s form has been incredible. It’s been really impressive, and we’re talking about a top manager who has been good everywhere he’s been, so, we understand the type of game we’re going into.
“At the same time, we have to believe in ourselves and feel confident that we can go there and get a good result. Villa are organised, they are a team, they know their jobs and do them very well. We respect that. We’re focussed on us as well and we feel we can hurt them in certain situations. We will have to be at the top of our game to get a positive result.”
