Spurs vs Aston Villa | Rob's analysis, Ben's one to watch

Club commentator Rob Daly and Ben Haines, presenter of Inside Spurs, the Warm Up Show and Review Show on SPURSPLAY, look ahead Sunday's Premier League clash against Aston Villa at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (2pm).

Talking tactics with Rob Daly

"This does feel like an important game off the back of two defeats, and a chance for some of the players coming into the side to really stamp their authority and show what they can do. Villa are scoring goals, in fact, no team has scored more goals from open play in the Premier League this season - 23, that's more than Manchester City. They've had some good recruitment, Pau Torres, a left-sided central defender and the rapid Moussa Diaby, who has had a decent start to life at Villa. Of course, there is also Ollie Watkins, who isn't just scoring - he has 11 goals in all competitions this season - but he's also creating. He has that link-up play with six assists, so there are major threats through the side. From Unai Emery's point of view, he rarely rotates the 11, they've made the fewest changes of any side in the Premier League this season, and he can make wholesale changes for Europe, because they have a big squad now. That means they are pretty fresh going into every Premier League game. There's an interesting side to them where they're really strong at home - they've won six out of six this season and 13 in a row at Villa Park - but won two of six away so far. For Ange Postecoglou, there are still issues - Cristian Romero is suspended, Micky van de Ven is also out, but I think the biggest issue is how he configures his three-man midfield with no Yves Bissouma (suspended) nor injured James Maddison, plus news of Pape Sarr being a doubt after international duty. However, both Rodrigo Bentancur and Gio Lo Celso started and played well for their countries, so I wonder if they come into it. Lo Celso has different attributes to Maddison, but both played in that position in pre-season - Lo Celso scored agains Barcelona - and it will be really interesting to see how Ange lines-up to face Villa."

Ben's one to watch

"It's really good to be back and I genuinely can’t wait to get back into the stadium. It always feels like a long time during international breaks, but this last period has been particularly tough considering we’ve had just two home games since the start of October - and that will be really crucial for us this week, considering that we're once again suffering a little with suspensions and injuries. On the Villa front, someone I always seem to come back to is John McGinn. I think he’s the sort of player who can at times be overlooked by the headline makers and just the general footballing narratives that surround the Premier League - but I imagine if you supported Aston Villa, you would love what McGinn brings to your team. He never under delivers, always physically up for the challenge, seems to be consistently zipping around driving the tempo, pushing the team forward with his possession and crunching into tackles. This season, his return in front of goal has been really impressive as well with five contributions in the Premier League, and then, beyond that, he has the ability to play in a wide range of positions without ever really missing a beat. He’s someone I think that will once again have a big impact over the outcome of the game, even if it’s in the more subtle areas. I’m with Rob that Rodrigo Bentancur is someone that we need to watch out for this weekend. With no Yves Bissouma, one of the key things we will need is that calming influence in midfield, the press resistance of Rodrigo and whilst no-one is like Yves or James Maddison, I feel as though Rodrigo’s range of passing could be incredibly helpful for us this weekend to break the lines. It will be a huge ask though, considering he hasn’t played a huge amount of minutes and once again it’s very likely that our bench will need to come into play. A real squad effort needed this week, I feel..."