Tottenham backed into corner over Aston Villa decision ahead of Man United Europa League final
Tottenham will play in the Europa League final five days after facing Aston Villa
Aston Villa are targeting their third successive Premier League victory on Friday night when they host Tottenham.
Unai Emery’s side will move into the top five if they beat Spurs, while fellow Champions League hopefuls Chelsea also entertain Manchester United on the same night.
Both Villa and Chelsea are expected to win on home turf, given that Spurs and United will contest the Europa League final just five days later at the San Mames in Bilbao.
However, Villa cannot afford to take Spurs lightly, despite their upcoming final and the fact that Ange Postecoglou’s side currently sit in 17th.
They lost their 20th game of the season last weekend as Crystal Palace left north London with a 2-0 victory.
Spurs have won just one of their last 10 Premier League matches, which came at home to Southampton, while they have drawn seven in that time.
Many expect Postecoglou to name a ‘weaker’ team to face Villa on Friday, but that could actually throw up some complications for their final.
The likes of Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario all sat on the bench for the duration of the defeat to Palace.
That means that if they don’t play against Villa, those first-team stars won’t have played for 13 days before the final.
Dejan Kulusevski came off injured in the first half on Sunday, but Postecoglou is hopeful he only suffered a knock.
Son Heung-min, however, is expected to play a part against Villa.
"From a physical standpoint, [Son] is good,” Postecoglou said on Monday. “It's important he got some minutes yesterday, more for himself psychologically.
"He had a good session today, but didn't do the whole session because he played yesterday. He feels good and we've got eight or nine days to go. We can build him up.
“We'll get him some minutes on Friday against Villa and if he trains right through he'll be OK.
"He's worked hard to get back. It's a bit of a funny injury. It was just how he progressed and how he felt. Hopefully he kicks on now."
Tottenham XI vs Palace: Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence; Gray, Bentancur (c), Sarr; Kulusevski, Tel, Odobert.
Substitutes: Vicario, Romero, van de Ven, Bissouma, Moore, Johnson, Son, Richarlison, Solanke.
Postecoglou could make a few changes to his starting XI to rotate, but also involve players he knows will start against United to boost their match fitness and sharpness ahead of the final.
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Aston Villa is marking its 150th anniversary with the launch of a new merch collection including shirts, hoodies, books, mugs and scarves.
Top items include the Anniversary Shirt, Anniversary Hoodie and Anniversary Polo Shirt, plus the 150 Years picture books Volume One and Volume Two.