Tottenham vs Aston Villa: Who will qualify for Champions League

Aston Villa and Tottenham are the two clubs fighting for the last Champions League spot in the Premier League.

The Villans are the surprise package of the year as Unai Emery’s men come from nowhere to threaten established top-four clubs.

Tottenham is also enjoying the benefits of bringing Ange Postecoglou to the club as their latest manager in the summer.

The Aussie did a good job as the gaffer of Celtic in Scotland where he dominated the competition ahead of Rangers.

Not every Tottenham fan was excited about his appointment as their club’s manager because he did not come from a big league.

That is understandable, considering their team had been managed by Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte who had class in European football.

However, Postecoglou is a very nice bloke and has got their players where he wants them to be.

His team is playing fantastic attacking football that many of the club’s supporters are proud of and Postecoglou is winning their hearts.

Spurs are not playing in Europe this season and this helped them to be one of the early pacesetters in the league at the beginning of the term.

They now find themselves fighting for the fourth spot after an inconsistent run of form in the last few months.

Villa finished last season in the Europa Conference League places, which was an interesting achievement for them and showed why Unai Emery is the best man for the job at the club.

The Spanish gaffer has been doing a great job since he returned to England following his unsuccessful spell as the manager of Arsenal.

Villa is benefitting from having him as their coach, but the challenge from Tottenham will be very difficult for his team to overcome, especially after they recently lost the direct clash.

Fans of both clubs who buy tickets from vetted resellers on Seatsnet know the next few months will be important to how their individual teams end the season.

Squad quality

Spurs sold Harry Kane in the summer and we all thought they would suffer because the Englishman alone has carried their team for most of his career.

Kane scored 30 league goals for the Lilywhites last season and they still did not make the European places.

Fans worried about how their team will perform without its talisman, but they have done very well so far.

After keeping Son Heung-min and signing the likes of Brennan Johnson as well as Timo Werner, their attack is brimming with quality players.

Villas has been an ambitious team for some time, so we knew signing top players was not going to be a problem for them if money was required.

They just needed a good manager who would make players want to move to Villa Park and got one in Emery.

He has managed to lure the likes of Pau Torres, Mousa Diaby and Morgan Rogers to the club so far.

Emery is one of the most underrated coaches in the world and it is not a smart thing to do because he has always thrived as an underdog in his career.

The times he has struggled as a manager was when he managed a top club, so making Villa one of the top four sides in England is a challenge he would relish.

Their form for most of this season has made them one of the teams to make the Champions League in our earlier prediction for the year. 

Experience

Among both clubs, Spurs is the side that has played in the Champions League most recently, with the Lilywhites reaching the final of the competition in 2019 and consistently competing in it.

They have a lot of experienced players in their squad, with Son and the likes of Son, Cristian Romero, and Timo Werner, among others competing in the Champions League recently.

The German even won the competition with Chelsea in 2021 and will add a lot of experience to the side that is competing to make the top four at the end of the campaign.

Villa has not competed in Europe in a long time and most of their players are competing in Europe for the first time in their career this season.

The Villans are banking mostly on the experience of their manager who has done brilliantly throughout his career and achieved success at less fancied teams like Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal.

Emery has lured some fine players to the club and has helped others to improve significantly, which will be helpful to what the team achieves before this term ends.

The likes of Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins may not be experienced at playing in Europe or fighting for a Champions League place, but they are experienced squad members who are having a brilliant season.

This will be a major boost to their chances of making the top four and they will provide the edge the team needs to beat Spurs.

Managers

Postecoglou is in his first managerial job at a top European league and he is managing one of the top clubs on the continent.

Most people did not expect his team to be as competitive as they have been so far because they believed it was new territory for the Australian.

However, spells in his native country and Scotland have prepared him well for life in the Premier League and he does not seem unfazed by the challenge in London.

But he is coming up against Emery who has been very successful in at least three of the top five European leagues.

The Spaniard has won several trophies, especially in Europe where he has won at least three Europa League crowns.

This may give him an edge, but he needs his players to be in great form at this stage of the term so that they can successfully overcome Spurs and take the last Champions League spot.

Important players

Spurs have a superb team and almost everyone left in the group has bought into the philosophy of Postecoglou.

The Australian can consider the likes of Son, Guglielmo Vicario, Romero, Werner, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Mater Sarr as important players.

James Maddison is only in his first season at the club, yet the former Leicester City man has been such a big influence in the group.

We all know Maddison is a star and if he stays fit, his goals and assists could be the difference between success and failure for them in their top four pursuit.

Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie have slotted in brilliantly in their defence and have been very good members of their squad so far.

Villa’s star man this season has been Watkins who has double figures for goals and assists in the Premier League already.

The striker is en route to finishing this season with up to 20 league goals and that might be the minimum strike he needs to fire them to a Champions League place.

But Villa has other heroes in their current squad, with the likes of Emi Martinez, Luiz, Leon Bailey, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, and Boubacar Kamara mostly catching the eye with their performance this season.

Emery has managed to get the best from most of these men and their presence in the group hands Villa a good chance of taking the fourth and final Premier League spot this season.