Aston Villa will be looking to end a 27-match wait when they square off against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon.

The West Midlands outfit have been a club reborn under Unai Emery, the Spaniard transforming the team from relegation candidates to European contenders.

However, Villa have lost 1-0 in successive matches to Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, results which have threatened to derail their bid for continental football.

With three matches remaining, Villa sit one point adrift of seventh-placed Brighton & Hove Albion, who have played two games fewer, in the Premier League table.

Nevertheless, the teams are scheduled to go head to head on the final day of the campaign in a match which could ultimately decide whether they will have additional fixtures on their calendar for 2023-24.

In the short term, Villa may have wider eyes on sixth place, a result of playing current incumbents Spurs while trailing their next opponents by just three points.

Although Villa require a three-goal victory to progress past the North Londoners, simply moving level on points could prove pivotal come the end of May.

If Villa were to register a win on Saturday, it would mark the first time since 1995-96 that they have completed a double over Spurs.

That is a consequence of Emery overseeing a 2-0 triumph on New Year's Day, Emiliano Buendia and Douglas Luiz getting on the scoresheet in the second half.

Nevertheless, on the flip side, Villa have gone 11 home league fixtures without recording a win versus Spurs, two draws and nine defeats being posted since 2008.

Emery has witnessed Villa record five home league wins in a row, all with clean sheets, and a sixth such result would make it their best league run at Villa Park for three decades.

In sharp contrast to Villa scoring in his first 20 Premier League matches in charge, Emery is now looking to avoid his worst scoring run in 16 years having not failed to net in three successive league games since his time with Almeria in 2007. body check tags ::