Chris Sutton predicts 23 penalty shootout in Aston Villa vs Tottenham

Having exited the Carabao Cup, Tottenham’s domestic cup hopes shift to the FA Cup. They travel to Aston Villa for an all-Premier League 4th-round tie. Chris Sutton has predicted the game will be decided by the finest of margins.

Despite injuries, Tottenham must stay in the FA Cup

Currently sat in 14th in the Premier League table, Tottenham’s path to success this season is certainly via their remaining cup tournaments.

Having exited the Carabao Cup on Thursday against Liverpool, it is imperative that they find a way to stay in the FA Cup.

Ange Postecoglou confirmed that no new players would be returning from injury this weekend. Additionally, Aston Villa will have had a full week’s rest. The odds are stacked against Spurs once again but with several players scheduled to return within the next two weeks, if Tottenham can find a way to win, their season may yet improve.

Chis Sutton predicts a penalty-shootout loss for Tottenham vs Aston Villa

In his BBC Prediction Column, Chris Sutton has suggested that it will be a tight game between Spurs and Aston Villa.

Sutton said: “The way Spurs beat Brentford was more ‘Ange-Wall’ than ‘Ange-Ball’ but it worked, and they might need more of the same to get through here.

“It will help Aston Villa that they don’t have a midweek game before this tie and, as well as the result against Liverpool, one of the things that will affect Tottenham is fatigue and how many players they have got fit.

“When these two teams met in November, Spurs won 4-1 but it was a strange game and it could actually have gone either way. The same applies here too.

“Like Tottenham, Villa also have a problem keeping clean sheets – they have managed only one in their past 13 games – so I think there will be goals in this tie.”

Prediction: 2-2 after extra time, Aston Villa to win 12-11 on penalties

Tottenham need to utilise recent form against Aston Villa

Tottenham have scored 8 goals in their last two games against Aston Villa.

Admittedly, the Spurs squad was in a far better state when those games took place, but when digging deep to surpass fatigue, belief and memory of positive results can be essential.

Dejan Kulusevski played a vital role in both of those matches and will be needed once again. The only English club that Kulusevski has more goal involvements against is Manchester City.

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