Aston Villa vs Tottenham prediction: Rashford fancied for instant Villa impact

There’s an all-Premier League clash in Sunday’s late kick-off as Aston Villa welcome Tottenham to Villa Park in the FA Cup fourth round (5:35pm, BBC One).

Both sides would love a place in the fifth round but for Spurs, the cup competitions so far have been a welcome distraction from their poor league form.

In the Europa League, they finished fourth in the league phase, with five wins from their eight matches to qualify automatically for the knock-out stage.

They reached the semi-final of the League Cup and even led Liverpool 1-0 going into the second leg, but a 4-0 defeat at Anfield ended their chances of a trip to Wembley.

But, in the league, they sit 14th in the table and their win over Brentford on Sunday was their first league victory in eight games, since a 5-0 thrashing of Southampton on 15 December. During that time they lost six and drew one in the Premier League, and the pressure has continued to mount on manager Ange Postecoglou.

Villa have also thrived in Europe, finishing in the top eight in the Champions League table in their first time playing in the competition.

They won five of their eight matches, including a 1-0 win over six-time champions Bayern Munich, and they held Italian giants Juventus to a goalless draw.

The big test of a team in Europe is how they cope domestically too and although Villa have had mixed results, they sit eighth in the Premier League, just four points behind Manchester City in fifth place.

Both sides have conceded 37 goals in the league and with Spurs the fourth-highest scorers and Villa scoring in all but three home games this season, we can expect goals.

Postecoglou will be hoping for a better showing from his back four and goalkeeper than at Anfield but he could welcome back Micky van de Ven and maybe even Cristian Romero, who is back in full training after more than eight weeks out.

Football betting sites have Villa as favourites to reach the fifth round at 5/6, while you can get 16/5 on Spurs winning and 33/10 on a draw after 90 minutes.

Tottenham reached this stage of the competition with a 3-0 win over non-league Tamworth at the Lamb Ground, while Villa beat Premier League rivals West Ham United 2-1 with goals from Amadou Onana and Morgan Rogers.

This will be the 13th time the two sides have met in the FA Cup and Villa have only progressed once in their last six attempts, winning 1-0 at White Hart Lane in a third-round replay in 1992, following a goalless draw at Villa Park.

Spurs also have a great record on Villa’s home turf, winning nine of their last 10 matches in all competitions. Two of the last three meetings at Villa Park have ended in 4-0 wins for the visitors.

They also scored four the last time the sides met back in November when Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke (2) and James Maddison all scored in a 4-1 win after Morgan Rogers had given Villa the lead.

Betting sites are offering 16/1 on Spurs scoring four goals this time but it will need a huge improvement from Thursday night if they are to trouble Villa, but surely they can’t play that badly again.

You can get 8/1 on Villa winning 2-1 or 2/1 on both teams to score and Villa to win.

Aston Villa vs Tottenham prediction 1: Villa to win by one goal - 3/1 Bet365

The FA Cup is all about fairytales and this game could see Marcus Rashford make his Aston Villa debut after finally ending a nightmare season at Manchester United, albeit on loan.

He will be desperate to impress his new team and show his parent club that he is still good enough to play at the top level.

The England striker last played on 12 December, and since then his attitude in training has been called into question on numerous occasions, but he has still scored seven goals in a stop-start season that has seen him make 24 appearances.

Betting apps have him at 13/2 to score first or last and 41/20 to score at any time which is a good option if he only makes the bench.

Aston Villa vs Tottenham prediction 2: Rashford to score at any time - 41/20 Unibet

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