Aston Villa v Tottenham: Capital One Cup match preview

A look ahead to tonight’s fixture at Villa Park

Bouncing Czech: A happy Libor Kozak celebrates his winning goal (PA)

Having picked up three points at the weekend, both Tottenham and Aston Villa will be anxious to continue in this fashion when they come face-to-face at Villa Park this evening.

On their last encounter, back in December, Tottenham were the victors by four goals to nil, thanks to a Gareth Bale hat-trick. The Villains have been unable to beat Tottenham since the 2008/09 season, a statistic they will be eager to change tonight.

One key concern for the Villains though is their lead goal scorer Christian Benteke’s welfare, as he was forced to leave the field against Norwich at the weekend due to a suspected hip injury. He is unlikely to play against Tottenham in the Capital One Cup fixture, but there is a silver-lining for Paul Lambert’s team, one Libor Kozak, who took Benteke’s place at Carrow Road and went on to score the winner just 90 seconds after his arrival into the game. This ended Villa’s run of three straight Premier League defeats.

The sides have met each other on four occasions previously in this cup, with two wins each.

KICK-OFF: Tuesday, 7.45pm.

PAST THREE MEETINGS...

Aston Villa 0 Tottenham 4 (Defoe, Bale 3), Premier League, December 2012

Tottenham 2 (Caulker, Lennon) Aston Villa, 0 Premier League, October 2012

Aston Villa 1 (Clark) Tottenham 1 (Adebayor), Premier League, May 2012

STATS...

Aston Villa haven’t beaten Tottenham since September 2008, they have played 9 times since then.

The two teams have faced each other 4 times in this competition, each winning twice.

Aston Villa have won the League Cup five times, and have been runners-up three times, most recently in 2010.

Tottenham have won the League Cup four times, most recently in 2008.

ODDS...

Aston Villa to win: 3.7

Draw: 3.65

Tottenham to win: 2.16

TV: Highlights on Wednesday 25 September, BBC One 23:05-00:05, ‘The League Cup Show’.