Premier League: How Tottenham Hotspur Will Line Up Against Aston Villa

Coming off of a frustrating 3-0 derby defeat to West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur's response in their trip to Aston Villa this Sunday will make for intriguing viewing.

Andre Villas-Boas will be keen on his sixth-place team not losing further ground on those in front of them in the Premier League table. Particularly top-four rivals Arsenal and Liverpool, two clubs who extended their respective lead over Tottenham to three points.

Spurs have beaten Villa once already this season. The Capital One Cup win was also their second successive 4-0 win over the Birmingham club, following on from the Boxing Day bashing given to them last Christmas.

Jermain Defoe was on the scoresheet on both occasions, with the brace late last month part of the cup form that convinced Villas-Boas to start the England man against West Ham prior to the international break.

Even considering for that, Defoe's selection upfront ahead of Roberto Soldado was a little surprising given the manager's preference for the Spaniard in league play prior to then.

In response (see video, right) to a supporter question on the club's Twitter page (@SpursOfficial), Villas-Boas indicated this was in part because of the ex-Hammer's great display versus them last season in which he scored twice.

Defoe's aforementioned form against Villa could tempt the Portuguese into persevering with him in the Premier League this weekend. Then again, if he feels Soldado is going to be his main striker long-term, the need for him to regain goalscoring form as soon as possible might be the deciding factor in him getting the nod.

Whoever starts, they will need more consistent and incisive support from attacking midfield than was provided in the West Ham loss.

Lewis Holtby will point to his own standout performance in the League Cup win over Villa (in which he set up three of Spurs' four goals) as evidence that he deserves a chance in the league. Though that may be a decent case, Christian Eriksen might be preferred in order to aid his continued settling in to English football.

Villas-Boas' starters out wide are a little more up in the air, but he has confirmed Aaron Lennon will not be one of them.

Andros Townsend's superb showings for England will likely have earned him the chance to continue in Spurs' starting XI as they look to make the most of that form. Gylfi Sigurdsson is himself coming off of the high of helping his Iceland side make it to their first World Cup playoff.

Erik Lamela might be handed his first Premier League start should Villas-Boas decide a more adventurous performer than Sigurdsson (despite his three goals already this season) is required to help get Spurs firing.

The Argentinian is another recent recruit still finding his feet, but one whose potential attacking contributions will want to be harnessed sooner rather than later if possible.

Then again, like Paulinho, he might be rested following a long trip on international duty in midweek. The Brazilian played an hour in his country's 2-0 win over Zambia out in Beijing while Lamela did the full 90 versus Uruguay in Montevideo.

In that case Sandro would start his first Premier League game since January. Whoever plays, they will be partnered by Mousa Dembele.

Despite hopes that Danny Rose would make his return, Villas-Boas revealed on Friday that the left-back is extremely unlikely to feature.

Kyle Naughton will presumably be selected again to cover on his less favoured side. Unless his manager has a change of heart with his approach thus far in the season, the versatile Jan Vertonghen will not be switched. Instead, Vertonghen will continue in central defense with captain Michael Dawson.

Regular starters Kyle Walker and Hugo Lloris will almost certainly round out the side at right-back and goalkeeper, respectively.

Although Tottenham beat Aston Villa comprehensively in their last two meetings, the currently mid-table team are not one to be taken lightly.

Since their League Cup defeat, Paul Lambert's young squad have beaten Manchester City 3-2 at Villa Park and recorded a decent point away versus an in-form Hull City side.

However the Spurs line up against Aston Villa, they will need to be ready for a potentially tough and long afternoon, in the way they were not against West Ham the last time out.