Spurs vs Aston Villa | Ange’s preview: “We’ve been strong at home and it’s important we get back to that”

Ange Postecoglou is well aware of the challenge presented by in-form Aston Villa - and the influence of manager, Unai Emery - as we return to Premier League action at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (2pm).

Emery has completely turned around Villa after arriving in November last year. They were 16th at that time but climbed to seventh and qualified for the Europa Conference League. That form has continued this term - indeed, since the end of this season’s first international break, Villa have won more games (six) and picked up more points (19) than any other side in the Premier League. They’ve also scored 27 goals, a total only bettered by Manchester City.

In praising Emery and giving a nod to Villa’s form, Ange also pointed out the importance of being back in front of our fans in N17. This is only our sixth home game of the season - by way of comparison, we’d had 11 in all competitions by this time last season.

Speaking on our preview show Inside Spurs, Ange said: “Villa are a good side and it’s a good challenge for us. Since Unai Emery has gone in there, they’ve been really consistent in the way they play their football and gained a lot of confidence particularly in recent weeks in the front third with their goalscoring, so, a good challenge for us, but we’re back at home and, apart from last time against Chelsea, we’ve been really strong at home and it’s important we get back to that.”

Ange is once again preparing without a number of players – Cuti Romero and Yves Bissouma are suspended, while James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, Manor Solomon, Ivan Perisic, Ryan Sessegnon and now young defender Ashley Phillips are all sidelined. Pape Sarr is also a new injury doubt.

Asked in his pre-match press conference about how the team might react to the players missing, Ange replied: “As you said, we don't have two injuries, we have a few more, but every club will go through it and, for me, it does allow me to look at every aspect of our squad.

“You try to do that by design but sometimes that happens and that is our existence at the moment, where guys will get an opportunity to play. It is great for me to see how they cope with playing our football, with the stress of playing against good opposition, so it will be a good test for us, but it is one we have to be up for.”