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To be fair to Emery, he inherited a mess.
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Updated at 15.16 CET
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Away we go at the Tottenham Stadium
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Manly hug and banterous laughter between Ange and Unai, two football men and true.
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The teams are in the tunnel, the PA system is revving up and the players hit the field.
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A short word on the dropped word from James Maddison from Ange: “It’s just what we need today. But there’s no doubt that Madders will be coming on today.”
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Unai Emery spoke to Sky: ““My first message I am sending everyone is ‘I want to break our levels always higher’. I am dreaming and I want to work to try and get my dreams.
“My dream is to get the best possible at the club I am at and the targets that we have. To play in Europe, to play in the Champions League - my dream is to be a winner as a coach in the Champions League. Hopefully with Aston Villa.
“The Premier League is very difficult to win because at the moment there are three teams who are being consistent - Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. But, here Leicester won and when Leicester won the Premier League it was very difficult and maybe impossible. This is the reason in football it is not impossible. You can dream and you can work hard to try and get it.”
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Tottenham full-back Destiny Udogie spoke to Sky: “When you get a win it always changes the mood in the dressing room and adds confidence so we are happy for that win [against Man City] and focused on today’s game.
“Van de Ven is a huge loss for us but we are all together as a team. Villa are a great team, honestly. We’re ready to give our best and hopefully, we are going to win.”
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Villa skipper John McGinn spoke to Sky: ““We’ve got a good recent record in London. It feels nice to be back here but in the last couple of wins here we’ve had to work for it. They’ve probably deserved to win on a couple of those occasions so we need to be ready today.
“To get the three points we need to work, to run. Tottenham make you run a lot so we’re ready to do that. Spurs aren’t an easy team to play against, for most of the league, they’ve had their ups and downs this season but they bring a big threat.
“From our point of view we are quite happy Van de Ven is missing. We need to be at our best, they’re a team that will be competing up the top of the table come the end of the season.”
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Spurs will be full of cheer after their midweek defeat of Manchester City in the Carabao Cup
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Ange makes four changes from the team that lost at Crystal Palace last week, with Son coming back in and James Maddison dropped to the bench. Micky van de Ven misses out with his hamstring problem as Radu Dragusin comes in. Pape Sarr is in ahead of Yves Bissouma and partners Rodrigo Bentancur. Mikey Moore is on the bench and let’s hope to see him off the bench. Last week at Selhurst was no fun for the youngster.
Unai Emery opts for the orthodoxy of Jhon Duran on the bench, and Ollie Watkins starting.
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Updated at 13.57 CET
The starting teams
Tottenham: Vicario, Dragusin, Udogie, Romero, Kulusevski, Johnson, Porro, Sarr, Bentancur, Solanke, Son. Subs: Forster, Davies, Gray, Bissouma, Bergvall, Maddison, Moore, Werner, Richarlison
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, McGinn, Tielemans, Digne, Torres, Onana, Rogers, Ramsey, Watkins. Subs: Olsen, Maatsen, Carlos, Mings, Kamara, Philogene, Buendia, Bailey, Duran
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Updated at 13.52 CET
Injury list and form guide:
Tottenham
Doubtful Romero (muscle), Son (muscle), Spence (groin), Werner (groin)
Injured Odobert (hamstring, unknown), Van de Ven (hamstring, 23 Nov)
Suspended None
Form LWWLWL
Leading scorer Johnson, Son 3
Aston Villa
Doubtful None
Injured Barkley (muscle, 23 Nov)
Suspended Non
Form WWDDWD
Leading scorer Watkins 5
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Preamble
Should be a good one, this. With Tottenham beating Manchester City in midweek and Aston Villa on such a good run in general, it’s two clubs with optimism flowing through them. Though optimism can be readily punctured at Spurs. And Aston Villa, have won three of their five Premier League matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, including each of the last two, say the stattos. Can Unai Emery outfox Ange-ball? It’s highly possible, you know. Villa can go third in the table if they win, while Spurs can climb to seventh.
Kick-off at 2pm, join me.
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