Aston Villa vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Open match thread and lineups

Aston Villa would enter today's match against Tottenham Hotspur as the underdog under the best of conditions. Unfortunately, these aren't the best of conditions, as the club have eight players nursing various forms of injury, including Christian Benteke and Jores Okore. Tottenham, even at cup-strength will be heavily favored.

But that's not to say that miracles can't happen. In the third round, we're still early enough in the Capital One League Cup that most clubs aren't taking it seriously, and if there were ever a chance for an undermanned Villa to pull off a shocking win, it'd be here. Paul Lambert is running out a lineup with more than a few surprises in it, including the return of Marc Albrighton (?!).We've got lineups below and hope you'll join us in the comments!

Aston Villa Starting XI

Jed Steer, Matthew Lowton, Ron Vlaar, Nathan Baker, Joe Bennett, Karim El Ahmadi, Yacouba Sylla, Marc Albrighton, Leandro Bacuna, Aleksandar Tonev, Libor Kozak

Aston Villa Bench

Brad Guzan, Jordan Bowery, Andreas Weimann, Daniel Johnson, Ciaran Clark, Callum Robinson, Nicklas Helenius

Tottenham Starting XI

Brad Friedel, Kyle Walker, Vlad Chiriches, Jan Vertonghen, Zeki Fryers, Joe Paulo Paulinho, Raniere Sandro, Erik Lamela, Lewis Holtby, Jermain Defoe, Harry Kane

Tottenham Bench

Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele, Heurelho Gomes, Andros Townsend, Kyle Naughton, Roberto Soldado, Michael Dawson