Tottenham vs Aston Villa live: Unai Emery’s side face Premier League test after political storm

These two sides have met 157 times in the past, with Spurs winning 70, Villa winning 55 and 32 ending as draws.

They met three times last season, with Villa winning the home league match and an FA Cup tie, though Spurs won this fixture 4-1 last term.

Aston Villa, for what it is worth, can climb in to the top half today with a win, with Everton’s defeat yesterday leaving them within reach in 10th. Manchester United play later, of course, and begin the day a point and two places ahead of Villa.

It was a tricky start to the season for Unai Emery’s side, but there were signs before the international break that they were starting to find some fluency and form.

Thomas Frank is looking forward to working with Fabio Paratici and co-sporting director Johan Lange, having operated under a similar structure during his time at Brentford.

Tottenham confirmed this week a couple of changes to their off-field structure, with Fabio Paratici back on a full-time basis having served a long ban from football.

The big news for Villa is that Ollie Watkins is only fit enough to make the bench, with the England striker one of two changes made by Unai Emery from the side that beat Burnley last time out. Elsewhere, Lamare Bogarde makes way for Amadou Onana in midfield.

Thomas Frank has made just one change to the side that beat Leeds before the international break, with Destiny Udogie making way for Djed Spence at left-back.

The midfield pairing of Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur continues, with striker Mathys Tel supported by Wilson Odobert and summer signings Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus.

Tottenham XI: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Bentancur, Palhinha; Kudus, Simons, Odobert; Tel.

Subs: Kinsky, Danso, Richarlison, Gray, Bergvall, Johnson, Sarr, Kolo Muani, Byfield.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Kamara; McGinn, Guessand, Rogers; Malen.

Subs: Bizot, Maatsen, Lindelof, Barkley, Watkins, Sancho, Buendia, Elliott, Bogarde.

Right, we should have team news from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium very shortly. Any surprises? Spurs are dealing with a few injury concerns…

Back to today, then, and Unai Emery is preparing for a “huge challenge” as his Aston Villa side travel to Tottenham.

Villa started slowly, failing to win any of their first five Premier League games, but went into the October international break having won two in a row in the league and four in all competitions.

They now take on a Spurs side who have only lost once in 10 matches in all competitions since the start of the Premier League season, and Spanish head coach Emery believes it will be a test of his side’s progress.

“Tottenham is one of the contender teams to be in the top seven,” he said at a press conference on Friday.

“Last year they didn’t achieve it, but of course this year they are really playing fantastic, getting good results, they are now in the top with 14 points, and playing at home, they are feeling strong.

“For us, it’s really a huge challenge, how we can face them, showing our capacity and how we are playing against them as a team, individually how we are responding – this is my challenge.”

Emery is expecting to have Ollie Watkins, Emi Buendia and Jadon Sancho available after knocks, while Tyrone Mings is also a contender for the squad depending on how he trained on Saturday.