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Aston Villa is playing host to Tottenham Hotspur on match day 35 in the Premier League this Sunday.

Aston Villa are set for two vital home games. The first one is this weekend as they are welcoming Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League before salvaging their silverware dream in the midweek as they meet Nottingham Forest in the Europa League.

This upcoming game against Spurs is as important as the next one since Unai Emery’s side is targeting sealing the Champions League spot as soon as possible. They are only one win away from securing the berth, whereas their last two games in the league will potentially be a stumbling block for them to even snatch three points. Villa would have to take on Liverpool and Manchester City in the final two fixtures.

Thus, the objective to win at home in this game is not too much to ask. The tricky part is Spurs are currently under Roberto De Zerbi. They have slowly turned into a solid team and have been fighting for their lives for safety.

Spurs are sitting on the 18th in the standings with 34 points, two points short of West Ham on the 17th and five points adrift from Nottingham Forest on the 16th.

Meanwhile, Villa are on the fifth with 58 points, the same as Liverpool on the fourth, but the Reds have a better goal difference. They are both three points behind Manchester United on the third.

A negative trend underway?

Their two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and Europa League plus a 1-1 draw against Forest on the road appear to have come at a bad time. They are at the crucial stage of their campaign, in which every win matters.

Yet, they have failed to find the back of the net in the last two games and conceded on fine margins. Such is rather concerning. No wonder Emery has reminded his team to refocus and stay demanding in one game at a time, as reported on the club’s official site, avfc.co.uk.

“Yesterday, the priority was Forest in the Europa League. Now it’s a different competition, and the priority is the Premier League and being consistent and demanding through it to achieve our huge challenge to be again in the Champions League.”

“We’re analysing it, but we’re going to take a break before analysing the second leg at home next week, which is very important, but now we need to focus on the league.“

Team News

As the defensive midfielder crisis continues with the absence of Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana, Emery would most likely start Ross Barkley as the double number six alongside Youri Tielemans. At the backline, the former Villarreal boss might rotate the names with Tyrone Mings and Victor Lindelof at the centre in front of Emiliano Martinez while Ian Maatsen and Matty Cash would operate on both flanks.

On the attacking side, Morgan Rogers will be supporting Ollie Watkins, with possibly John McGinn and Jadon Sancho, who will be deployed on both wings. Emery could also prepare Tammy Abraham, Emi Buendia, Douglas Luiz and perhaps Harvey Elliot too to come off the bench in the second half.

The only thing which might put Villa at ease a bit is the fact that Spurs will be without nine players in this game, including their number one shot stopper, Guglielmo Vicario; Xavi Simons; Muhammed Kudus; Dejan Kulusevski; Pape Sarr; Dominic Solanke; and the skipper, Cristian Romero. De Zerbi would have to compose the best team from this squad crisis.

Where to watch Aston Villa v Tottenham

The Aston Villa v Tottenham encounter will be available on Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Go Extra, and Sky Go UK on TV as well as live streaming. The fans can also enjoy this game on NOW TV.

Manager Unai Emery has named his team for Aston Villa’s FA Cup third round tie against Tottenham Hotspur this evening.

Villa reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup last season, losing 3-0 at Wembley to a Crystal Palace team that went on to win the cup in their next game and suffer the biggest upset in history in the one after that.

Emery has made no fewer than six changes for Villa’s third round game against Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a place in the fourth round on the line.

Marco Bizot starts in goal with Emiliano Martínez injured. The Dutch veteran came on at half time in Wednesday’s goalless draw against Palace. James Wright has been named on the bench.

Donyell Malen comes in for Ollie Watkins up front, with Emi Buendía picked alongside John McGinn and Morgan Rogers behind the striker.

Emery opts for changes at the back

Emery has given Youri Tielemans a rest by picking Lamare Bogarde to play in the centre of midfield and has also been able to exercise some flexibility in defence thanks to the return from injury of Pau Torres.

He’ll play to the left of Ezri Konsa while Ian Maatsen gets the nod at left-back and Matty Cash continues on the right.

Villa have also been able to welcome Tyrone Mings back from injury. The former skipper has been named among the substitutes after a couple of months on the sidelines.

Villa team news in full

Starting XI: Bizot, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Bogarde, Kamara, McGinn, Rogers, Buendía, Malen

Substitutes: Wright, Lindelöf, Mings, Tielemans, Watkins, Digne, García, Sancho, Hemmings

How to watch Spurs v Villa

➡️ How to watch Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa: FA Cup kick-off time, TV channels and streams

➡️ Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa: predicted line-up, team news and FA Cup match preview

Chris Nee

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Chris Nee is the Editor-in-Chief of AVillaFan.com, author of the High Protein Beef Paste football newsletter and a freelance football writer. He's a lifelong Aston Villa supporter, attended his first games in the maiden season of the Premier League, and has been writing and podcasting about the club in various forms for more than 20 years, including being one of the earliest Villa podcasters as the owner of Aston Villa Review. Chris has written for MUNDIAL, FourFourTwo, SPORTbible, Football365.com, The Guardian, IBWM and many others, bringing his football subculture expertise into the mainstream to tell the story behind the story. As well as supporting Aston Villa, he follows the Northern Premier League team Coventry Sphinx, where he was formerly Head of Media and programme editor. He loves non-league and is a fan of football in Scotland, Japan, Australia and Italy.

Aston Villa join the fray in the FA Cup on Saturday when they face Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the third round.

Villa made it as far as the FA Cup semi-finals last season, defeating Premier League opponents in the third round and fourth round on the way to a Wembley loss against Crystal Palace.

Spurs were their opponents in the fourth round, the first of three Villa wins over the north London team in 2025 after a pair of heavy defeats the year before.

Villa’s FA Cup dream on hold

Unai Emery is a winner. Ask him how he sees this tie and the FA Cup in general this season and I’m certain he’d say he wants to win it because he wants to win every match. I think he’s sincere in that, too.

Yet there’s no escaping the basic fact that the Premier League and Europa League are the competitions that offer a route back to the Champions League, which is an increasingly realistic aim.

It’s not that Emery will deprioritise the FA Cup, more that he won’t prioritise it. That’s the kind of subtle difference that can see a team knocked out in the early rounds.

Nobody at Villa wants that. This is a club that craves a trophy and many of us would dearly love for them to win the FA Cup for the first time since 1957. It’s something I’m desperate to see in my lifetime.

But, with Villa third in the league with a lead to protect and a buffer to support them, Emery would be forgiven for having an eye on the couple of matches that follow this one. It would be weird if he didn’t.

Villa team news

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez went off at half time in Villa’s draw at Crystal Palace, after which it was confirmed that he was withdrawn due to a calf injury. We don’t have an update yet.

Pau Torres was named on the bench at Selhurst Park after missing several weeks through injury but Tyrone Mings, who is also close to a return, was not ready to play a part. Both could be involved in the matchday squad at Spurs on Saturday.

Midfield duo Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley are further away and aren’t expected to be back in time for the FA Cup game, while Evann Guessand is due to play in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for Ivory Coast against Egypt on Saturday evening.

New signing Alysson joined the squad for training for the first time on Thursday. The plan for him this season isn’t yet known, so his inclusion or otherwise in the squad on Saturday could prove instructive.

Villa predicted line-up v Spurs

While I suspect Emery would like to tweak his team for this game, the injuries in midfield really limit his ability to do so in the areas that matter.

Without two of Onana, Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans in the middle, there’s a good chance Villa would get over-run and Emery’s ultimate aim will be to win the game.

There could well be a place for Lamare Bogarde but my guess is neither Kamara nor Tielemans will be considered dispensable.

It’s a similar story at the back, where Ian Maatsen and Lucas Digne can easily swap places at left-back but there’s not much else that can be done in terms of resting players without a significant drop-off.

A start for second-choice goalkeeper Marco Bizot seems likely, and I think Donyell Malen could get a chance to shine with Ollie Watkins also on the field. That would allow John McGinn to sit this tie out and that’s no bad thing.

Where to watch Spurs v Villa

Villa’s away game against Spurs will be broadcast live on BBC ONE and TNT Sports 1 in the UK.

Aston Villa kick off their 2025/26 FA Cup campaign with an all-Premier League third round tie in north London. Here’s how to watch Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa live.

Villa take their first step in the FA Cup on the back of a goalless league draw against bogey team Crystal Palace on Wednesday and a number of changes will be expected early on Saturday evening.

Unai Emery‘s team beat Spurs 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October, coming from behind to bank three points thanks to goals from Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendía.

What time does Spurs v Villa kick off?

The FA Cup third round is spread across four days this weekend, with four matches on Friday, eight on Sunday, one on Monday and the remaining 19 to be played on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The Saturday fixtures begin with four 12.15pm kick-offs. Charlton Athletic play Chelsea at 8.00pm to end the day, with the others played at either 3.00pm or 5.45pm.

Villa’s game at Spurs is one of four matches that start at 5.45pm on Saturday.

Where to watch Spurs v Villa in the UK

Along with all of the matches not taking place within the Saturday 3.00pm black-out, Spurs v Villa will be broadcast live in the UK. It’s been picked by BBC Sport, meaning it will be available both there and on TNT Sports.

Spurs v Villa will be shown on BBC ONE in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as being available on the BBC Sport website and on BBC iPlayer.

TNT Sports subscribers can watch the game on TNT Sports 1 and on the Discovery+ streaming platform.

Watch and stream Spurs v Villa anywhere

United StatesESPN+ Canada- South AmericaDisney+ AfricaSupersport (various) DenmarkViaplay / TV3 MAX SwedenViaplay NorwayViaplay GermanyDAZN 2 Spain- FrancebeIN Sports MAX 10 ItalyDAZN Italia India- AustraliaStan Sport New Zealand- Japan- ChinaMigu / QQ Sports Middle EastbeIN Sports MENA 1

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