Tottenham vs Aston Villa: Big Emiliano Martinez call made while Antonio Conte goes with experience

Tottenham will take on Aston Villa in the first Premier League game in 202 with both teams failing to win their last game of 2022, Spurs fans will be looking for improvement and consistency but most importantly three points.

A win will take the Lillywhites back to top four of the Premier League table while Villa are looking to get back to winning ways after suffering their first defeat under former Arsenal boss Unai Emery. The 3-1 loss to Liverpool in what was the final game of 2022 would have hurt given how well they played.

Spanish manager Unai Emery is undefeated in three games against Spurs even though generally the capital hasn’t been a good visiting place for Villa. They have lost eight of their last 11 to Spurs who have a great record Aston Villa.

Tottenham have key men coming back, key amongst them will be Cristian Romero who played a pivotal role as Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar. His manager Antonio Conte has urged the fans to give him a great welcome.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is also fit, focused and ready to go after watching on from the bench at the Gtech stadium against Brentford. For Villa, it is quite interesting as Emiliano Martínez is on the bench.

There were expectations the World Cup winning goalkeeper would walk straight into the team but he’s been named on the bench after only doing a few days of work.  Villa have looked good under Emery even in that defeat to Liverpool, a large part of that was due to their wastefulness.

The Midland club will be looking to cause some havoc while Spurs would have noticed the vast improvement that is taking place at Manchester United and Arsenal. For Arsenal, they have a seven point lead at the top of the Premier League table while Manchester United have jumped into the  top four with their win against Wolves. Spurs will have to respond.

Here is how both teams line up- Tottenham: Lloris, Romero, Lenglet, Davies, Doherty, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Perisic, Gil, Kane, Son.

Villa team: Olsen, Young, Konsa, Mings, Digne, McGinn, Luiz, Kamara, Buendia, Watkins, Bailey.