Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur

Villa Park forms the backdrop for a mouth-watering FA Cup tie between familiar foes Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

It shapes up to be another memorable season for Aston Villa. In addition to being firmly in the race for a second-consecutive top-four finish in the Premier League, Unai Emery’s men have locked down an unlikely last-16 berth in the Champions League. However, the Lions can’t afford to get complacent, as most recently witnessed by a dismal 2-0 league defeat to Midlands rivals Wolverhampton. That result marked Villa’s fourth winless outing from their last five in all competitions (D2, L2). Villa fought back from a halftime deficit to beat West Ham 2-1 in the previous FA Cup round and inch closer to reaching the grand final for the first time since 2014/15. Yet, they face a formidable opposition they’ve lost to nine times across their last ten H2Hs on this ground (W1).

Tottenham dismantled Villa 4-0 on their last visit to Birmingham in March 2024 before thumping them 4-1 at home in the Premier League this season. However, that’s probably the only encouragement traveling fans can get after a calamitous 4-0 defeat at Liverpool in midweek League Cup action denied them a berth in the Wembley showpiece. Seeking their first piece of silverware since 2008, Ange Postecoglou’s charges embarked on their FA Cup journey with a 3-0 win against lower-league Tamworth. But it’s worth noting they needed extra time to beat a fifth-tier opponent, highlighting the depth of Postecoglou’s problems. The visitors have since blown hot and cold across five competitive road trips (W2, L3), with each game (won/lost) seeing the winner score 2+ goals.