Aston Villa captain Ashley Young is a doubt for Boxing Day because of knee and ankle injuries.
Stiliyan Petrov and Fabian Delph are back in full training after lengthy lay-offs and have an outside chance of being involved.
Tottenham's Jermaine Jenas, Younes Kaboul and Rafael van der Vaart are all expected to return after injury.
William Gallas faces a fitness test on his hamstring problem, but Ledley King is still not yet fully fit.
Christmas cheer has been thin on the ground at Villa Park as manager Gerard Houllier continues to battle behind the scenes with dressing room unrest. January could prove to be an interesting month as he begins to overhaul a squad that is riddled with players with huge question marks hanging over their futures.
Like many managers in the new year he will be relying on chairman Randy Lerner to dig deep to provide funds for the January transfer window. But Houllier could be forgiven for having his concerns given the American's recent parsimonious nature when it comes to spending.
Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner says Lerner is as "dedicated as ever" to see the club succeed, yet players may be sold before replacements can be brought in.
Harry Redknapp, on the other hand, has been backed to the hilt by his chairman Daniel Levy and has a squad to rival any in the top flight. He may fight claims of being a wheeler dealer, but his crafty last-gasp capture of Rafael van der Vaart at the end of the August transfer window has so far proven to be the signing of the season.
Villa felt the full force of the Dutch dynamo when his brace gave Spurs a 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture in October. That win kept up the Londoners' recent hoodoo over their Midlands rivals and also maintained Redknapp's ability to nick three points against the Villans - he hasn't lost a league game against them now for over four-and-a-half years.
43 Replies
15751 Views