Big big match at the weekend: Spurs at Villa Park

I'm going to say it and I don't even think this is a debate, but Spurs on Saturday is the biggest game of the season for us. There, done. No going back now.

Win and we go above Brighton and on equal points with Spurs. Win it by a few and we go above Spurs with the same amount of games to play and it puts us in a very good position.

It will be tough and part of me thinks we've run out of steam and we're cruising to the beach, but another part of me thinks that we need the pressure and all of me believes that the manager wants to win every game and will be sending the players out to win and using these last three games to determine who gets to play a role in his revolution.

And this is what makes football exciting and I'm genuinely looking forward to the match. I think we can do it and I think doing it this season after everything we've been through, would be the best gift we could get.

This is a quick post to move on from the last post and to make my claim. Predictions?

Match facts from the BBC

Head-to-head

• Tottenham have won eight consecutive away matches against Aston Villa in all competitions by an aggregate score of 23-3.
• Villa's only home victory in their past 15 competitive home games versus Spurs was by 2-1 in the Premier League on New Year's Day 2008 (D4, L10).
• However, the Villans have won two of the past four meetings and can complete a first league double over Tottenham since 1995-96.

Aston Villa

• Villa will guarantee a top-10 Premier League finish for the first time in 12 years if they avoid defeat or if Chelsea fail to beat Nottingham Forest.
• A 17th top-flight win of the season on Saturday would be the most they have recorded since 2009-10.
• Aston Villa have suffered successive 1-0 defeats, directly following a 10-match unbeaten league run.
• They have earned five Premier League home wins in a row for the first time in 25 years. Their most recent longer streak spanned seven games from December 1992 to February 1993.
• Villa are vying to equal the club league record of six consecutive home clean sheets, set from November 1970 to February 1971 in the third tier.
• Unai Emery is unbeaten in all four Premier League meetings with Spurs but his Arsenal side did lose to them in a 2018 League Cup quarter-final.
• Ollie Watkins has failed to score in his past four appearances, following a run of 11 goals in 12. He needs one more goal to become the first Villa player to reach 15 in a top-flight season since Christian Benteke a decade ago.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Spurs are winless in eight away games in all competitions since a 3-0 victory at Preston North End in the FA Cup fourth round on 28 January (D2, L6).
• They have not had a longer winless away run since a 13-match streak from May to December 2000 - the ninth fixture was a 2-0 league defeat at Aston Villa.
• Tottenham have only taken two points from seven league games outside of London since a 3-2 triumph at Bournemouth on 29 October.
• The Lilywhites ended a run of four matches without a win by beating Crystal Palace 1-0 last weekend. It was their first clean sheet in 10 league fixtures.
• Harry Kane has scored in four successive Premier League away matches and in 23 games in the division this season, one short of the record in a 38-game campaign set by Mo Salah in 2017-18.
• Son Heung-min has scored five league goals in just two appearances at Villa Park, including a hat-trick last season. No player has scored six Premier League away goals against Villa.