Aston Villa look to book their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday evening, as Tottenham Hotspur visit Villa Park (ko 5.35pm).
Unai Emery's side will be aiming to bounce back from a first domestic defeat of 2025 last weekend - when they fell 2-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers - against Ange Postecoglou's men, having opened up this season's FA Cup campaign with a 2-1 win over West Ham United in B6 last month.
The Villans have lost just twice on home soil in all competitions all season, with only one of those defeats coming in the Premier League. Indeed, they are unbeaten at Villa Park since late October.
Sunday's injury-hit visitors are in a mixed run of form. Despite winning just two of their past 12 Premier League outings, they have three wins in their last five in all competitions.
They too will be looking to bounce back from defeat, after bowing out of the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage on Thursday with a 4-0 second-leg loss at Liverpool, having won the first leg 1-0.
Stats
Aston Villa have progressed from just one of their last six FA Cup ties against Tottenham Hotspur, winning 1-0 at White Hart Lane in a third round replay after a goalless draw at Villa Park in 1992.
Tottenham Hotspur have won nine of their last 10 away games against Aston Villa in all competitions (L1), with their last two wins coming by the same 4-0 scoreline (April 2022 and March 2024).
Aston Villa are looking to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2014/15, when they eventually reached the final before losing 4-0 to Arsenal.
Tottenham have progressed from four of their last five FA Cup fourth round ties, though did lose 1-0 against Manchester City at this stage of the competition last season.
In the Premier League era (since 1992/93), Son Heung-min has been involved in more FA Cup goals than any other Tottenham player (26 – 14 goals, 12 assists). In that time, only Harry Kane and Jermain Defoe (15 each) have scored more in the competition for Spurs than their current captain.
Previous FA Cup Clashes
There have been no less than 12 meetings in the FA Cup between these two sides, with Spurs currently edging the head-to-head record, having won seven to Villa's four.
The first two meetings in history between the Villans and the Lilywhites were both in the FA Cup. The first, in March 1903, was a thrilling 3-2 win for Villa in the quarter-final at White Hart Lane, thanks to goals from Jasper McLuckie (2) and George Johnson. A year later, Tottenham got their revenge, winning 1-0 at Villa Park in round two.
The next meeting was a 1-0 quarter-final win for Villa at White Hart Lane in 1920, on their way to lifting the famous cup for the sixth time, before James Banks' solitary goal for Spurs a year later again saw them clinch a quarter-final triumph in North London, as they won the competition for the second time.
Villa again triumphed 1-0 at White Hart Lane in the fifth round in 1934, before losing 2-0 at home in round five in 1961, and 2-0 away in the quarter-finals in 1962. Spurs won the cup on both occasions.
1969 saw Villa again defeated on the road in round five, before falling at the same stage in 1982, when Spurs again lifted the trophy.
Ten years later, however, Villa would taste success when the sides met in round three. A goalless draw at Villa Park meant a replay in the capital, where Dwight Yorke scrambled home a first-half corner to knock the holders out and send Villa through.
The most recent FA Cup meeting, in January 2017, went the way of the Londoners, as second-half goals from Ben Davies and Son Heung-min secured a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane in the third round.
The Last Meeting
The last meeting between the two sides was one to forget for the Villans, as a trip to North London in early November saw them leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the receiving end of a 4-1 Premier League defeat.
Things had started well for Unai Emery's side. They took a 1-0 lead into the half-time break after Morgan Rogers pounced on a loose ball inside the penalty area to lash home from close range.
However, Spurs rallied after the break. Brennan Johnson levelled matters within four minutes of the restart, before Dominic Solanke's quickfire double had them 3-1 ahead with 11 minutes to play.
James Maddison's clever free-kick rounded off the scoring for Postecoglou's men, as Villa made the trip back up to Birmingham empty-handed.
Team News
Unai Emery will be without five players through injury, including Ollie Watkins, who was withdrawn at half-time against Wolves last weekend.
The England striker is joined on the sidelines by Tyrone Mings, Ross Barkley, Pau Torres and Matty Cash, while Axel Disasi is cup tied, having already played in the FA Cup for parent club Chelsea this season. Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio could make their Aston Villa debuts, having arrived in the closing days of the transfer window.
Ange Postecoglou confirmed none of the 11 senior players currently injured for Spurs would be fit to return on Sunday, and Dane Scarlett is cup tied, as he was on Thursday, having played in the FA Cup for Oxford United earlier in the season.
The visitors remain without Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Drăgușin, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Timo Werner, Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison, the latter having limped off at Anfield in Spurs' last outing.
Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts
“The most important thing for Sunday is how we can enjoy in Villa Park with our supporters one match like this. In this cup, it’s a very prestigious cup in England for a lot of supporters. It’s really special and very important to get through this competition being successful in some moments. We can be excited on Sunday to play at Villa Park with our supporters.”
Unai Emery
“It's the same pressure - a knockout game and you've got to get a result to progress. Villa are a good side and it's going to be a challenge but there's an opportunity for us there and we want to make sure we tackle it in the right way.”
Ange Postecoglou