Aston Villa – Tottenham

In Birmingham, the hosts will be confident of a win

Before the penultimate round match in Birmingham, the rivals were in a completely different tournament situation. Despite the fact that the players of both clubs nurture plans to play in the Champions League next season, their personal meeting is partially concerned with this issue. Tottenham have abandoned the championship for quite some time now and are concentrating on the Europa League, in which Spurs have a tough final against Manchester United next Wednesday. Of course the players of the London team are not only thinking about the continental trophy, but also about the integral bonus to it - a ticket to the Champions League. If it wasn't for this chance to qualify for Europe's elite tournament, Postecoglou would have been sacked from the Spurs coaching position a long time ago. The club's management has plenty of reasons for this. The main one is the seventeenth place in the Premier League, which directly borders on the zone of departure to the Championship. Aston Villa in the current season with European cups said goodbye before the opponent, but did it very honourably. In the quarter-finals of the Champions League "Villans" almost got back after the defeat in Paris with a score of 1-3, but failed in their home walls to squeeze the current finalist of the strongest tournament of the continent. Now Unai Emery's team is in a difficult situation. Occupying sixth place, the Villans are bordering on the Champions League zone, but even with equal points with Chelsea do not get into it on additional indicators. Aston Villa's task for the last rounds looks mathematically simple - to beat Tottenham and Manchester United, and count on at least one point loss to Chelsea or one defeat to Manchester City. Overall, Emery's charges look focused on their goal. The Villans beat Fulham and Bournemouth by identical 1-0 scores in the two May fixtures. Their future opponents, meanwhile, have picked up just one point in the last five rounds, not shy of losing to Wolverhampton and Crystal Palace. Spurs' thoughts are already on the Europa League final and it appears they have no intention of getting distracted. Of course, nothing in the fate of Postecoglou and his players will not change for the worse, in case of defeat in the championship four full days before the possible winning of the historic trophy. The home team will win the match with confidence.