The Daly Brief | Spurs vs Aston Villa | OneFootball

'After a poor start to the season, Aston Villa have started scoring goals, while two of their England stars shone during the international break. However, can they stop the man leading the Premier League assist charts - Mohammed Kudus?...'

Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit

Creating - and taking - chances...

Unai Emery’s side failed to score in any of their opening four Premier League matches, playing out goalless draws with Newcastle and Everton, added to defeats to Brentford and Crystal Palace. Chance creation was low too with an xG of 3.1 from those matches total, having fashioned just 4 big chances (by Opta’s metric) as well. Harvey Elliot’s goal against Brentford in the Carabao Cup last month was Villa’s first in 509 competitive minutes. But things have improved thanks to a run of four wins in all competitions having seen off Bologna (1-0), Fulham (3-1), Feyenoord (2-0) and Burnley (2-1).

Malen, Watkins and Rogers...

Perhaps it’s understandable that goals have been harder to come by this season with Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio’s loans ending – while the prolific Jhon Duran was sold in January. However, winger Donyell Malen struck twice to win the match against Burnley before the break in just his fourth league start since a winter move from Borussia Dortmund. Encouraging for Villa too, was some of the link-up play he enjoyed with Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers. Those two meanwhile have been busy on international duty together, with Rogers scoring his first England goal against Wales before setting up Watkins in a 3-0 win. Watkins had to withdraw from Thomas Tuchel’s squad after that game, having injured himself by colliding with the post. Villa’s number 11 recently ended a nine-game goal drought with his smart lobbed finish against Fulham.

New signings need time...

There are other new attacking talents who are yet to really get going in claret and blue. Striker Evann Guessand was a £26m investment from French club Nice, having scored 12 times in Ligue 1 last season. The Ivorian is yet to get a goal in his opening nine games (544 minutes of football) but he did register for the Ivory Coast in a 7-0 victory against Seychelles. Harvey Elliot does have a cup goal to his name since joining from Liverpool, but the versatile forward was taken off at half-time in his only league start of the season against Fulham recently. Unai Emery insisted the decision was tactical - adding that he needs time to settle. "Give him minutes, and through that he will feel confident in our structure." Jadon Sancho is another loan arrival, but having not featured in any of Manchester United’s pre-season plans, it’s clear he needs to get up to speed after making a move late in the window.

Kudus up and running...

By scoring his excellent individual goal against Leeds, Mohammed Kudus could pull out his famous celebration in a Spurs shirt for the first time. But there are various numbers that highlight just how well he’s settled into life in North London. The Ghanaian, fresh from firing his country to the World Cup during the international break, leads the Premier League assist charts going into the weekend - joint with Everton’s Jack Grealish on four. Kudus has also completed 30 dribbles in Premier League football - no other player has done 20 or more this season. He’s one of four players to start every top-flight game for Spurs this season - and the 25-year-old’s contributed to the fact Thomas Frank’s side rank second for open play crosses (119). The summer signing has had quite the impact.

Last time in N17...