It hasn’t been pretty the last two times Villa hosted Spurs, with both ending in 4-0 defeats for the home side.
However, with new-look Spurs having long since parted with the man who scored a hat-trick during the last visit - Gareth Bale - questions still remain about the on-field chemistry of the completely remodeled visitors.
Still, it’s hard to argue with history, and history says Tottenham are unbeaten in their last nine matchups with Aston Villa, winning six. But streaks were meant to be broken, right? Villa will go for it at 11am ET live on NBCSN, or live online at NBC Sports Live Extra.
Christian Benteke, still on his way back from injury, can only make the bench as Villa try to break that mark. Roberto Soldado returns to the starting lineup for Spurs after their disaster against West Ham time out.
The Spurs bench is an interesting one, with new boys Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen both sitting as well as Moussa Dembele as Andre Villas Boas makes a host of changes following that West Ham match. Nacer Chadli is dropped altogether.
Finally, an interesting switch for Spurs, Jan Vertonghen moves over to left-back with Danny Rose injured, and Vlad Chirches makes his Premier League debut in central defense.
LINEUPS:
Aston Villa: Guzan; Bacuna, Clark, Vlaar, Luna; Westwood, El Ahmadi, Delph, Weimann; Agbonlahor, Kozak.
Bench - Steer, Helenius, Sylla, Benteke, Bowery, Tonev, Lowton.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Walker, Chirches, Dawson, Vertonghen; Paulinho, Sandro, Townsend, Holtby, Sigurddson; Soldado.
Bench - Friedel, Naughton, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Lennon, Defoe.