Already reeling from one dose of knockout heartache, Tottenham Hotspur could see another shot at silverware pass them by when they travel to the West Midlands for Sunday's FA Cup fourth-round date with Aston Villa.
Ange Postecoglou's sorry side were smashed 4-0 by Liverpool in Thursday's EFL Cup semi-final second leg, while the Lions have had a week to reflect on their 2-0 loss to near neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Match preview
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As some Spurs fans might have feared, a 1-0 first-leg win over Liverpool in the EFL Cup semi-finals was nowhere near enough, as Postecoglou's hopes of fulfilling his second-season trophy prophecy took another significant hit at Anfield in midweek.
Cody Gakpo's opener, Mohamed Salah's penalty, Dominik Szoboszlai's tidy finish and Virgil van Dijk's header completed a ruthless Liverpool turnaround and sent the Reds into the EFL Cup final at Spurs' expense, as the Lilywhites were subjected to a rude awakening after a rare positive in 2025.
Last weekend's 2-0 Premier League London derby win over Brentford ended Tottenham's terrible four-match losing run in the top flight, but a top-half place in the table remains out of reach for the time being, and they are still closer to the relegation zone than the European places points-wise.
There is an argument to be had that Tottenham's FA Cup third-round clash with Tamworth was just as pitiful as their loss to Liverpool in midweek; the final scoreline may have read 3-0, but Spurs were taken to extra time by their non-league opponents, who were not short of chances to pull off a major upset in the 90.
Nevertheless, the only fact that matters is that Postecoglou's men are in the fourth round of the FA Cup, and the North London outfit have won four of their last five matches at this stage of the competition, although their one loss in that sequence came in last year's edition to Manchester City.
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Hosts Aston Villa also left it late to punch their ticket to the FA Cup fourth round, albeit not extra-time late, as Amadou Onana and Morgan Rogers cancelled out a Lucas Paqueta opener in a 2-1 success over Graham Potter's West Ham United on January 10.
However, Unai Emery's men have picked up just two victories from their subsequent six matches across all competitions, and only one from their last five, although that 4-2 beating of Celtic was critical to their progression to the last 16 of the Champions League.
All season long, however, the Lions have been found wanting in their next Premier League game immediately after a Champions League match, and that worrying trend continued at Molineux, where Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Matheus Cunha propelled Wolves to a 2-0 derby win.
The Lions have often counter-acted unsuccessful away days with pleasing home displays, though, as their unbeaten run at Villa Park now stands at 10 games in all competitions since October's EFL Cup defeat to Crystal Palace, although they are without a clean sheet in six on home soil.
Sticking with the theme of Aston Villa shipping goals, the Lions have conceded four in each of their last two matches with Tottenham - unsurprisingly losing both of them - but Emery's men won all three of their meetings in 2023 and will be under no illusions that they hold the favourites tag for this tie.
Team News
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As well as heading home with bruised egos, a decimated Tottenham side were dealt yet another injury blow on Thursday evening, where Richarlison sustained a calf injury and had to be withdrawn for new signing Mathys Tel at the end of the first half.
The luckless Richarlison is part of a full XI of absent players for the visitors, as Guglielmo Vicario (ankle), Radu Dragusin (knee), Wilson Odobert (hamstring), Dominic Solanke (knee), James Maddison (calf), Micky van de Ven (fitness), Destiny Udogie (hamstring), Cristian Romero (thigh), Timo Werner (thigh) and Brennan Johnson (calf) have all been ruled out of Sunday's game by Postecoglou.
Unless Son Heung-min is moved to a central role and Mikey Moore comes into the XI, Postecoglou should promote Tel to the starting lineup as the Bayern Munich loanee makes his full debut, while Pedro Porro and Lucas Bergvall should provide some much-needed fresh legs too.
Villa could also offer a first start to a new attacking loanee, as Manchester United-owned Marcus Rashford did not feature for the Red Devils in their third-round win over Arsenal and is therefore eligible to feature on Sunday, but his lack of football in recent weeks means that a debut as a substitute is far more likely.
Marco Asensio is in line for a Villa baptism too, but fellow January signing Axel Disasi is indeed cup-tied, and Emery confirmed in his pre-game press conference that Ollie Watkins (groin), Pau Torres (ankle), Matty Cash (unspecified), Tyrone Mings (knee) and Ross Barkley (calf) are still unavailable.
Should Emery decide that Rashford needs more time before being thrown back into the spotlight, either Donyell Malen or Leon Bailey should fill the Watkins void up front, but Asensio has played in a central role for parent club Paris Saint-Germain and cannot be ruled out either.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Olsen; Garcia, Kamara, Konsa, Maatsen; Tielemans, Onana; Rogers, McGinn, Ramsey; Malen
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Kinsky; Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence; Bissouma, Bentancur, Bergvall; Kulusevski, Tel, Son
We say: Aston Villa 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham may have won nine of their last 10 away matches against Aston Villa in all tournaments, but the history books should mean little on Sunday, where Postecoglou's men arrive fatigued, low on numbers and even lower on confidence.
As Emery's men have enjoyed a week off Champions League duties, the Lions have our vote to comfortably put Tottenham to the sword, leaving the Lilywhites with only the Europa League to fight for.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
