Having dealt with the Dutch on Wednesday night we now need to put The Villians to the sword in tomorrow’s Premier League match. Many will be waiting for the slip up pointing to the “after the Lord Mayor’s show” mentality that follows an important European fixture. But with the experience and quality of our top players this should not become a reality. The leadership of Van Der Vaart, Modric and, if he makes it, Ledley King will be crucial to leading among others Tom Huddlestone through a game of equal importance to Wednesday if we are to pressurise others for fourth spot.
Like West Ham Villa have been out of sorts so far this season but the appointment of Gerard Houllier has seen successive victories. We therefore meet a team coming into form and need to place our marker firmly and early on the game. If we do that we should win comfortably but we’ve heard that all before!
Personally I’d be happy to see our side from Wednesday start the game. My only concern would be the lack of a ball winner in the centre of the park but Luka and Tommy did a cracking job against Arsenal and Chelsea last season so we know that they can do it. If he misses out Jenas will be unlucky but the one man up front has not been working and we really need two to take advantage of Bale’s crosses.
If Gareth can continue his current form Villa will be in for s torrid time down the left. The question will be how many men they can put on him to keep Luka and Rafa quiet or Alan Hutton bombing onto a flighted ball from Tommy. It promises to be an interesting tussle for which my team is;
Gomes
Hutton King Bassong Ekotto
Huddlestone
Modric Van Der Vaart Bale
Crouch Pav
And a result of 3-1 to Spurs.
McNamara’s Band 
A 2-1 finish to Spurs hopefully.
We all know how having a new manager can add to that fighting spirit. I would stick with the 4-4-2 formation as well.