Preview: Tottenham's lack of recovery time could cause some problems
Paulinho's late winner against Cardiff at the weekend gave AVB a moment of clear excitement. When questioned about his club's match on Tuesday against Aston Villa, the Portuguese manager was everything but excited.
Tottenham played their latest Premier League match on Sunday afternoon, and will now have to prepare themselves for another match just 48 hours later.
"This is an impossible game for us to play, but hopefully our team spirit and motivation can get us through," the Portuguese manager told reporters.
"The Capital One Cup is not our absolute number one priority but I don't think we have been given a fair chance to play in this competition this year. This team has not experienced having to play again after just two days and we have not been given the same chance as the other teams. So we will have to rotate our squad as the players who played in Cardiff will not be involved."
Thinking that AVB will not field any of the players who featured against Cardiff is a little hard to believe. Even with Jermain Defoe doubtful due to a groin injury, as well as Danny Rose, would players like Erik Lamela, Harry Kane and even Lewis Holtby not play? After all, those three came on as subs, but did not even feature for 20 minutes.
Some seem to think that the Spurs' manager is playing mind games, but the reality of it is that this match will not be easy. And we all know that after just 48 hours, opposed to Villa's 72 hours of recovery, playing another competitive match is not always the greatest idea, but a domestic title is at stake.
Despite his players extra day of rest, Paul Lambert has also opted to take some pressure away from this fixture, stating that his club's match against Manchester City next weekend is the main focus.
"We've played really hard teams in this opening spell - three teams you think will be round about there in Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, and now we've got two more tough ones," Lambert told the club's official website.
"The main one is Saturday, but we'll do our best to get through the Tottenham tie," he added.
With some injury concerns of his own, Lambert is not sure he will want to take some risks.
Gabby Agbonlahor and Luna missed some of last week's practice, but they still featured against Norwich. Having taken the chance, it is very unlikely that the Villa manager will take another risk just three days later.
Although both sides are likely going to feature different squads than what they presented this past weekend, this should still be a fairly entertaining match.
Tottenham has not won this competition since 2008, when they defeated Chelsea 1-2 in extra-time. Jonathan Woodgate's 94th minute goal gave Spurs just their fourth ever League Cup. AVB will know that the task will not be easy, but will also not want to throw away an opportunity of keeping the fans happy.
For the hosts, they have five League Cup titles in their trophy case, but their last one came in 1996. A convincing 3-0 victory over Leeds United gave the Villans yet another domestic cup, but giving themselves another chance at it on Tuesday would be great for the club. They've gone through a very tough stretch of opponents to start the new campaign, but getting past Tottenham would really give their fans and players a big lift.
Where to watch the match - live stream, start time, TV channels, live scores
Watch Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, September 24, 2013:
In USA at 14:45 ET on: beIN Sport Play (online)
This match will not be broadcast LIVE in UK. But for viewers in Africa, you can follow the action on Al Jazeera Sport +3 at 18:45 GMT.
For full TV listings related to this match, please visit the Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur match page for more information.
