Aston Villa look to close in on a top-five Premier League finish against relegation-battling Tottenham.
Should Liverpool fail to beat Manchester United in the mid-afternoon kick-offs, victory would lift Villa up to fourth although a draw would be enough if Arne Slot’s Reds lose at Old Trafford.
Wins for Liverpool and Villa though would be enough to seal the top five spots if Bournemouth fail to beat Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
Tottenham meanwhile can climb out of the relegation zone with a win.
Team News
Amadou Onana is ruled out for Villa after he suffered a knee injury during their Europa League semi-final first-leg loss at Nottingham Forest.
Alysson (muscle) and Boubacar Kamara (knee) remain absent.
Tottenham will be without Xavi Simons until 2027 after he suffered an ACL injury during their 1-0 win at Wolves.
Dominic Solanke (hamstring) is ruled out, but Pape Matar Sarr (shoulder) and Destiny Udogie (knock) are set to be available subject to late fitness tests.
Guglielmo Vicario (hernia), Ben Davies (ankle), Mohammed Kudus (quad), Wilson Odobert (ACL), Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski (both knee) are still ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Tottenham at Villa Park on Sunday 3 May at 7pm BST, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have won five of their last seven league meetings against Tottenham (W5, L2).
- Tottenham have won one of their last four visits to Villa in all competitions (W1, L3).
- Villa have won each of their two previous meetings against Tottenham in all competitions this season by a 2-1 away result, with Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers having scored in both matches.
- Emiliano Martinez has successfully completed more long passes than any other Villa player in the top flight this season, having achieved 159 successful long passes in 29 appearances.
- Out of the three clubs sat in the relegation zone at the start of this matchweek, Tottenham have managed to make the fewest clearances – 924.
Prediction
Should Bournemouth fail to win on Sunday afternoon, Villa know that this is a chance to secure a top-five finish if they can be more clinical than they’ve been in their last two matches, so I expect Unai Emery to name a strong line-up to try and finish the game as quickly as they can then rotate if necessary.
Tottenham meanwhile have an absolutely huge opportunity to get out of the relegation zone because if they don’t then I do fear for them with Leeds and Chelsea to come in their next two matches, and the psychological edge would be with West Ham who play before them in those two matchweeks.
Simons though is a massive loss in terms of creativity given how impactful he was at Wolves where they had to be patient, although his teammates can take heart from having got the win after he suffered his injury but they must use that belief here.
I however do think that Villa will have enough quality if can just reset because Spurs do still have their vulnerabilities which top players can exploit, but I do think that this will be close.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Tottenham
Result: Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham
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