Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Lineups and match thread

Tottenham Hotspur are in Birmingham to play Aston Villa today. Yes, it's the same Aston Villa that was thrashed 8-0 by Chelsea. That means they will come out with fire looking to make amends. Or they will just fold because despite going six unbeaten before the Blues beat them down (they got results against some very bad teams), Villa are young and, frankly, not very good. So we have no idea what to make of them. Hey, sounds like Spurs!

It will be interesting to see how many men Villa put behind the ball at home after that strategy failed miserably against Chelsea. If they try to pack as many men back as possible, it will be another test of Spurs' ingenuity, and possibly more proof that they need Wesley Sneijder (yeah, I went there).

In a late Christmas gift to Ashlock, Clint Dempsey is not in the 18.

Aston Villa: Brad Guzan, Matthew Lowton, Nathan Baker, Ciaran Clark, Joe Bennett, Brett Holman, Ashley Westwood, Chris Herd, Karim El Ahmadi, Fabian Delph, Christian Benteke

Tottenham Hotspur: Hugo Lloris, Kyle Naughton, Jan Vertonghen, WIlliam Gallas, Kyle Walker, Gareth Bale, Moussa Dembele, Sandro, Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe, Emmanuel Adebayor