START TIME:
4:00pm Sunday 8th January 2017 from White Hart Lane
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Tottenham are buzzing following a massive 2-0 win over Premier League leaders Chelsea in mid-week, meaning they head into this FA Cup clash with Championship outfit Aston Villa riding a huge wave of confidence.
Spurs are on a five-game winning streak in the Premier League that has lifted them to 3rd, Dele Alli a standout performer with a stunning return of seven goals in his last four games. That’s the kind of form that has lifted the Englishman to reach 10 league goals already this campaign, ranking him 7th in the Premier League Golden Boot race amongst some of the competition’s in-form goal scorers.
Aston Villa have no such feats to shout about, currently right in the middle of the pack in the Championship in 12th. It’s the first time that Aston Villa have dropped out of the Premier League in their 142 years of existence and there’s little reason to suggest they’ll be back in the top-tier next season.
Team News – Tottenham
The 2-0 win over Chelsea saw Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen and Moussa Dembele return to the starting line-up while Kieran Trippier, Kevin Wimmer and Heung-Ming Son dropped to the bench. Perhaps the latter trio will be amongst those expected to start against Villa as Mauricio Pochettino will likely look to rotate his side after a busy festive period where three games were played within seven days.
Spurs have a clean slate regarding fitness and will look at the FA Cup as their most realistic chance of silverware this season. They are decent value to lift the Premier League title at 14/1 with Sky Bet, but considering the seven-point gap between themselves and Chelsea at the top, perhaps a bet on them lifting their first FA Cup since 1991 is a likelier outcome. Marathonbet pay 11/1 for Spurs to lift the FA Cup in May.
Team News – Aston Villa
The visitors are one of the lowest scoring teams in the Championship and their lightweight attack isn’t helped by the departure of Rudy Gestede. The former Cardiff and Blackburn striker scored four league goals for Villa this term before recently joining Middlesbrough for £6 million.
Aston Villa’s strike force is further depleted with the farewell of £11 million signing Jonathan Kodjia to the Ivory Coast squad for the African Cup of Nations, while Jordan Ayew has also taken off to join his native Ghana in the same competition. Ayew’s exclusion dents their chances but it’s the loss of Kodjia that would be most frustrating to accept for Steve Bruce, as he is Villa’s talisman with nine league goals in 19 appearances. That leaves Villa with Ross McCormack, Gabby Agbonlahor, Libor Kozak and 18-year-old Hepburn-Murphy for Steve Bruce to choose from up top, who collectively have three goals in the Championship between them.
Tottenham vs Aston Villa – FA Cup Betting Predictions
It would take a brave tipster to predict anything other than a convincing Tottenham victory. Villa’s depletion up front suggests they might try to park the bus and hope to take a replay to Villa Park, and a backline that has conceded just 24 goals from 25 games in the league suggests they at least have an outside chance of pulling that off. Regardless, I’m tipping the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Heung-Min Song and even some of Tottenham’s fringe players to enjoy themselves and score a bag of goals. Tottenham are 3/10 to win with Sky Bet, but I’d back them to win by three goals or more at 21/10 with Coral. A 3-0 Tottenham win pays 31/4 with bwin.
Aston Villa’s defensive record is decent, at least on paper, but they have still only managed six clean sheets across 26 games in all competitions. Even though they have only been kept scoreless in seven of their fixtures this season, their attacking omissions are bound to impact their performance on Sunday. BetVictor pay 17/20 for selecting ‘no’ in the both teams to score option.
Dele Alli is in irresistible form at the moment and is easily one of the Premier League’s best young players. He’s at 11/2 with bet365 and Paddy Power to score the first goal of the game, a generous offer considering he’s managed that five times this season, while an anytime bet for Alli to find the net pays 17/11 with 888sport. This fixture should also allow second-choice striker Vincent Janssen the chance to build some confidence; he’s only scored three goals for his new club, all of which have come from the penalty spot. He’s a chance to start ahead of Kane and offers a decent 4/1 to score the game’s first goal while an anytime goal pays 21/20 with bet365
Correct score prediction:
Tottenham to win 3-0
