With Van de Ven out of the picture, Radu Dragusin should come in for his maiden Premier League start since his arrival back in January from Genoa.
The back end of the team then, to wheel out the phrase, kinda picks itself. Expect Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro and Guglielmo Vicario to comprise an otherwise untouched backline.
Pape Sarr is said to have a back issue which is being managed, but he should still get the nod alongside Yves Bissouma in midfield, and one would expect James Maddison to operate just ahead of the duo.
Son Heung-min is likely to play centrally, and one might expect to see Richarlison on the bench at last. I’d be very hesitant to immediately drop Brennan Johnson, who looked notably unimproved at Villa Park. That leaves Dejan Kulusevski on the right and Johnson looking to make his slot his own.
Suddenly, Spurs look like a much-improved prospect. The Villa game was a comprehensive win.
That said (oh no, here it comes) since 2008, we’ve played the Villans 15 times at Villa Park.
Tottenham has won 12, drawn 2 and only lost once. In 4 of those last 10 clashes… it finished 0-4 to Spurs.
Nevertheless, we’ve improved greatly over the last few weeks, and that’s obviously down to having the injured players start to not just return, but recover to full fitness.
It was certainly the case that Unai Emery was seeking to counter Ange Ball, so they are definitely on to us, but perhaps with all the boys back in the barracks, the jig isn’t up quite yet.
