Tottenham v Aston Villa preview: Villans aiming to break winless run

Image: Tottenham host Aston Villa on Monday Night Football, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7pm

Aston Villa's new manager Remi Garde is expected to watch from the White Hart Lane stands for the Monday Night Football clash against Tottenham.

Garde was confirmed as Tim Sherwood's successor on Monday afternoon, just hours before kick-off in the Premier League clash.

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Caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald, in his second stint as interim boss at Villa Park, suffered a 2-1 defeat to Southampton in the Capital One Cup fourth round on Wednesday, and Villa sit bottom of the Premier League table after a run of six consecutive defeats.

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Garde faces a huge challenge, with the club winless since September and four points adrift of 17th-placed Bournemouth.

Image: Aston Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald (left) during the Capital One Cup tie at Southampton

Spurs will have had seven days rest by kick-off following their 5-1 win over the Cherries, with striker Harry Kane back among the goals with a hat-trick. Mauricio Pochettino's side are unbeaten in the league since their 1-0 opening day defeat to Manchester United, and have conceded just three goals in the Premier League at White Hart Lane this season.

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Mauricio Pochettino has laughed off renewed speculation that Manchester United are preparing to bid for Harry Kane

Team news

Pochettino will be without Nacer Chadli (ankle), Nabil Bentaleb (ankle), Heung-Min Son (foot) and Alex Pritchard (ankle), although Ryan Mason returned from a knee problem as a substitute against Bournemouth, and the midfielder is in contention to make his first start for six weeks.

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Micah Richards is banned for the trip to north London. The Villa captain had admitted to a charge of improper conduct following an incident in the tunnel after Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Swansea, and received a one-match suspension from the FA on Monday afternoon.

Image: Micah Richards (right) is awaiting FA punishment

Joleon Lescott is expected to make a comeback after missing the game at Southampton through injury, while Idrissa Gana and Adama Traore should return to the squad as they were rested for the St Mary's trip.

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Tottenham have lost just one of their last 13 Premier League games against Aston Villa (W9 D3), although that defeat came last time out (0-1 at home in April 2015).

The Villans have bagged a total of just two goals on their last six league trips to White Hart Lane.

Aston Villa had a player sent off in both meetings with Spurs last season (Christian Benteke at Villa Park, Carlos Sanchez at White Hart Lane).

Caretaker Aston Villa manager Kevin MacDonald said before the match that he didn't know how long he would be in his current role

Indeed, Villa have lost eight of their 10 Premier League games in 2015-16; becoming only the 10th side to lose 8 or more of their opening 10 PL matches in a season. Of the previous nine, five were relegated at the end of the campaign.

Spurs striker Kane has bagged four goals in his last four Premier League games after netting just twice in his previous 14 appearances in the competition.

Kane scored with three of his four shots against Bournemouth, having netted with just one of his previous 32 shots in the Premier League this season.

Image: Harry Kane (right) scores against Bournemouth in Tottenham's last Premier League game

Jordan Amavi has embarked on 58 dribbles in the Premier League this season, the third-highest total overall and 26 more than any other defender.

Merson's prediction

This is extraordinary! For the fourth week on the trot, I'm backing Spurs! Harry Kane banged in a hat-trick last week and he'll kick on now against a Villa side that are in disarray.

We look back at Tottenham’s dramatic comeback against Aston Villa at White Hart Lane on their 125th Anniversary

I thought it was a bit early to sack Tim Sherwood considering he kept them up last season, they would've gone down last year if it wasn't for him. They've sacked him and got no one in, how can you sack someone and then not have a replacement lined up?

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (Sky Bet odds 11/2)

Jamie Redknapp joins Ed Chamberlin to discuss this week's Monday Night Football fixture as Tottenham host Aston Villa

Betting

Tottenham are 4/9 favourites with Sky Bet to secure another three points against Aston Villa (6/1) with the draw 100/30. Villa parted company with Sherwood last week after a run of six straight defeats and are 2/5 favourites to be relegated this season.

Image: Jack Grealish (right) of Aston Villa is marshalled by Tottenham's Nabil Bentaleb

Spurs have a great record against the Villans at White Hart Lane - only failing to score once in the last five meetings between the sides, while Villa have only scored twice. Spurs to win to nil is an 11/8 shot. In three of these games Spurs won by two or more goals and Spurs -1 on the handicap is 5/4. Check out tips from Sky Sports pundits Jamie Redknapp, Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas and Matt Le Tissier here.

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