Two clubs who head into this weekend in decent form meet in North London on Sunday afternoon as third-placed Tottenham hosts improving Aston Villa.
Thomas Frank has made an impressive start to life as Tottenham head coach, winning three of his opening four Premier League matches, including a notable 0-2 victory at The Etihad against Manchester City.
The Dane then had to rely on his new side coming from behind to rescue draws away at Brighton and home to Wolves, before returning to winning ways before the international break, defeating newly-promoted Leeds at Elland Road.
Unai Emery, on the other hand, endured a far more challenging start to the campaign, as his side were winless in each of their opening five matches (W0-D3-L2), failing to even score a goal in any of their first four.
However, Villa claimed their first Premier League victory of the campaign at the sixth time of asking, coming from a goal down to defeat Fulham, before backing it up with a 2-1 win at Villa Park.
How the bookies view it: Spurs favourites
Tottenham have been installed as favourites for this clash, with BoyleSports pricing a home success at 1/1.
Villa are 12/5 with the same firm to claim their first Premier League away win of the season, whilst the draw is 5/2.
Head to head: Home advantage last term
Playing at home proved to be an advantage in this fixture last season, with Aston Villa defeating Spurs 2-0 at Villa Park in the Premier League and 2-1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
However, Spurs were victorious when the pair met in North London last term, coming out 4-1 winners last November.
Players to watch: More magic from Kudus
Mohammed Kudus was the hero at Elland Road for Spurs last time out, setting up Mathys Tel’s opener, before scoring the winner, his first for his new club.
That’s now six goal involvements in seven Premier League appearances for the Ghanaian this season, and the 7/5 on offer at Bet365 for him to Score or Assist on Sunday appeals to me here.
Predicted line-ups:
Spurs will be without Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Yves Bissouma through injury, whilst Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin and Koto Takai are rated doubtful.
Unai Emery is expected to be without Youri Tielemans and Andres Garcia through injury, but Emi Buendia and Jason Sancho are back available, as is striker Ollie Watkins.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Palhinha, Bentancur, Kudus, Simons, Tel, Richarlison
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Rogers, Malen, Watkins
Anything else catch the eye?
Aston Villa’s opening five away matches in all competitions this season have averaged just 1.40 goals per game, with Under 2.5 Goals paying out in all five of them.
This has also been a winning selection in three of Spurs’ previous four encounters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and a repeat pays 10/11 at BoyleSports appeals to me here.
GambleAware