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"Agbonlahor terrifies me": A Tottenham look at Villa-Spurs

We asked our friends at Cartilage Free Captain to help us preview this weekend's Aston Villa-Tottenham tilt.

Stu Forster

I was asked a few questions by our Tottenham Hotspurs blog Cartilage Free Captain. Head over there and read my answers if you'd like, but I bet you can guess how downtrodden they are. What I didn't expect was the same sense of impending doom from Bryan when he answered my questions. I now wonder: do all football fans feel as if the world is about to end?

But, if you needed a way to have a little hope for Sunday, this may do it. Our thanks to Bryan for taking the time to be a part of this exchange!

7500 to Holte: You're playing a team who, as recently as 50 days ago were in second place. Nervous?

Cartilage Free Captain: Well, Spurs played a game in mid-week that we won handily, so yes. That seems to be the recipe for Tottenham failure this week. Mid-week dominance followed by weekend indifference. It really doesn't matter what place the team we're playing is in (see, e.g. Sunderland, West Brom, and Newcastle), so long as they play football, Spurs fans will be worried.

7500: Does the fact that Spurs have played so well against Villa in recent seasons give you hope in this match? It seems as if, regardless of the personnel involved, you all have our number.

CFC: No. Nothing gives me confidence in Spurs. Sure, it's encouraging that we've seemed to break out of whatever major or minor crisis we're in the midst of every time we play Villa, but I can't say that, in my heart of hearts, I can see anything other than disappointment for Spurs. Obviously that's very cynical of me, but things are real rough here, yo.

7500: Be honest here. Is there anything about Villa that worries you? You won't offend me if you say no.

CFC: Let's see, Delph injured, Hutton (lol) injured, Benteke aimless, Weimann...Yeah, it's Weimann. I know he's been out and his fitness is maybe a little questionable, but any man that score two goals from three shots on goals is man to be feared, or a man who's benefited from an extreme amount of luck, whatever.

Also, Agbonlahor terrifies me. It's not like he's been good this year, but he's so fast and Spurs are so slow at the back. If he manages to get in behind the Tottenham defense he'll cause problems.

7500: After last year's tribulations, how happy are you to have Pochettino at the helm of the club?

CFC: Uh....I guess Pochettino gets a resounding "Meh." I think a lot of Spurs fans were pleased with the appointment and for now, everyone is making the right noises about patience and transitions and all that. Of course pretty much anything is better than what we experienced last year, but there's always a weird pall hanging over the club. As though a few bad results will end up getting someone (manager, chairman, or director of football) fired.

MoPo plays some exciting football when things are working right, unfortunately that hasn't happened that often enough this season, at least not often enough for most Spurs fans. I think if the club is patient, I'm confident we'll wind up being very pleased with the results, but it's anybody's guess as to whether the club will show that patience.

7500: What has been the best part of watching Spurs this season?

CFC: Harry Kane. No doubt about it. Granted, the joy one experiences watching our very own HurriKane has been greatly tempered by Pochettino's stubborn refusal to play anyone other than Emmanuel Adebayor as a striker in the league. Regardless, Kane has scored 11 goals in 16 matches for club and country so far this season and there's no reason why he shouldn't be starting as often as possible for Tottenham.

7500: By how many goals do you think you'll win?

CFC: I think we will win by negative one goals. That is, I believe that we will lose. Villa haven't scored in so long, that I have no doubt that they will score within the first 15 minutes against Spurs. We'll try, but we won't be able to recover from that gut punch.