Tottenham vs Aston Villa prediction: 19/10 Spurs eye Villa scalp | OneFootball

Tottenham and Aston Villa are expected to feature prominently in the Premier League’s top four race come the end of the season.

The teams meet in north London on Sunday (2pm, Sky Sports Main Event) with only the visitors currently doing the business, as questions begin to swirl around Ange Postecoglu’s long-term prospects with a Spurs side that are entertaining yet massively inconsistent.

Tottenham’s midweek League Cup win over a second-string Manchester City side was a welcome result, but things need to improve in the domestic division for the side who handed Crystal Palace their first win of the campaign last time out.

Only Man City and Chelsea have scored more times than Postecoglu’s men so far this season, but the manager’s relentless attacking approach leaves plenty of room for teams to exploit.

Villa are well set up to do so, with hard-to-handle pace on the break and finishing ability in the shape of Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and others. The Wednesday night League Cup defeat to Palace will barely dent Villa’s mood; they are fourth in the Premier League, top of the Champions League standings and are looking to put together another impressive season under Unai Emery.

Despite recent results and the current standings, all the major betting sites have Spurs at shorter odds than Villa to finish in the top four. And the same goes for the match odds on Premier League betting sites, with the home side odds-on for the win and Villa as bigger as 11/4, despite having won their last two trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It took Watkins a little while to get going this season after his exploits at Euro 2024, in which he scored a stunning semi-final winner to send England to the final. While wasteful in Villa’s opening matches, he’s fully firing again with five goals in nine games.

Watkins’ play style will pose a particular problem for Spurs if Postecoglu sticks to his usual setup. The English striker loves to play on the shoulder, bursting between two defenders before receiving a pass and finishing.

Spurs typically leave a lot of space to exploit due to both full-backs and they are unlikely to have Micky van de Ven’s recovery speed to bail them out after he picked up a hamstring issue against City on Wednesday.

Adding to this, Villa’s combination of wingers are tricky to pin down. Whether it’s the directness of Leon Bailey, or the slightly more hybrid roles of Jacob Ramsey and John McGinn, Spurs will need to think about how often Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie launch themselves up the pitch.

Vicario isn’t the best at taking charge from crosses, so Watkins should find himself in space if Spurs play like they have been. As such, punters can find some potential value in the odds on betting apps for Watkins to score from a header against a defence that has kept just two clean sheets this season.

For all of Spurs’ defensive issues, Villa actually only have a single clean sheet in the Premier League this season. Only a woeful Manchester United failed to score against Emery’s side, so we can expect there to be goals.

Postecoglu’s attack is well-balanced and creative. Although Son Heung-min’s fitness continues to suffer, he was rested midweek and is a possible starter alongside Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson, whose recent run of scoring has added considerable danger for the opposition to think about.

Dejan Kulusevski’s support from deep keeps Spurs high, with his excellence on the ball almost single-handedly transitioning the team away from danger. His ability to drag possession forwards usually opens up more room for James Maddison to operate and will likely lead to Spurs creating chances.

For those who want to back the home side, football betting sites offer an intriguing price on Spurs to take the three points while also conceding. Recent form makes that an reasonable prospect in a game between two sides that prioritise getting numbers forward.

This should be a tactically complex match, one where both managers need to be adaptive to the quirks of the other in order to come out with an important win.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa free bets

For those fancying an Aston Villa win this weekend, Betano have boosted the price on the Villans to 35/1.

This special Betano sign up offer is only available to new customers who open an account, make an initial deposit and then opt in to the promotion on the offers page.

Next, place a maximum £1 bet on Villa to win in the match market at the normal odds.

If the bet wins, punters will be paid out in cash at the normal odds, with the bonus funds credited as free bets.

For example, a £1 bet on Villa to win at 1/1 would return £2 in cash and £34 in free bets.

Bettors should always follow safe gambling practices. Betting should be for entertainment purposes only and should never been seen as a way of making money. Remember to stick to budgets and always remain in control.

Gambling sites can help you stay in control by providing safer gambling tools, such as deposit limits, time out, self exclusion options and profit and loss calculators.

We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.