Tottenham v Aston Villa: Donyell Malen looking to continue form as Villa hunt latest victory
Donyell Malen goes into a tough run of Villa fixtures buoyed by recent wins as well as his own goalscoring form.
The Dutch attacker fired in his first goals of the season with a well-taken brace to fire Villa to victory over Burnley in the Premier League ahead of the international break – where he found the net again for the Netherlands.
The Burnley win made it four successive victories in all competitions after a sticky start to the season for the Villans.
With the squad now back at Bodymoor Heath, Malen believes Villa are showing signs of returning to their best form ahead of the visit to Tottenham tomorrow.
“We had a difficult start, but I think we’ve turned it round quite well,” the Netherlands international said, in an interview with the Villa website.
“We stayed focused on the right things, and to have four wins in a row is a good sign.”
He impressed in the win over Burnley in Villa’s last top flight fixture, capped with two goals against the Clarets.
He said: “You want to be a forward who’s dangerous in front of the goal and scores.
“When that works out, it means a lot.
“You don’t want that to take too long (getting off the mark), and it was a nice feeling.”
Malen also found the net for Holland in their 4-0 World Cup qualifier victory over Finland in midweek.
“I feel good. It’s nice to score for the national team and come back to Villa with a positive energy,” added the 26-year-old.
Villa, meanwhile, have been handed a huge boost with Ollie Watkins set to be fit for their clash with Spurs.
Boss Unai Emery confirmed the striker should be ready to lead the line at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after being injured for England last week.
Watkins limped off at Wembley after colliding with the post during their friendly victory over Wales. The 29-year-old had already scored in that fixture but was hurt when he tried to convert a second opportunity in the first half.
He subsequently pulled out of the World Cup qualifier in Latvia as he fought to be fit for Sunday's Premier League fixture.
And Villa manager Emery has now confirmed his frontman should be ready to face Spurs for the 2pm kick-off.
“[Saturday] we will train again, and normally he will be ready for Sunday,” said Emery.The boss also offered positive updates on Emi Buendia and Jadon Sancho after their recent problems. Buendia was flattened by a flailing arm in the win over Burnley while Sancho had suffered a bout of sickness. Emery said: “Both of them are training normally the whole week, and they will be available for Sunday if they are training well [on Saturday].”
The Villans could also see defender Tyrone Mings return to the squad, if he comes through training without further issues for the ankle injury he suffered early in their win over Fulham.
“He’s getting better, progressively,” Emery said. “He’s training this week individually to add to us. We will see how he is. ¶"The idea is for him to train [on Saturday] with the team and, after the training session, to decide if he will travel with us or not to London.”
