Players from Spurs arrive at the stadium before the Aston Villa match.

The Spurs players and backroom staff including Ange Postecoglou have arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of this afternoon’s match against Aston Villa.

After the international break, attention returns to the Premier League campaign. There will be a tough stretch of games after Christmas, and Tottenham will be aware that if they don’t defeat Unai Emery’s team today, they may have to travel to Manchester City the following weekend in an attempt to avoid losing four straight games.

Villa is a team that should be taken seriously; they have the most points in the division with 19 from eight league games played since the September international break. They have the chance to surpass Tottenham this coming weekend if they win.

The Villains defeated Tottenham both at home and away in the previous campaign, and they are only the second team to defeat them in three straight Premier League games, having done so four times between 1994 and 1996.

Among the players spotted arriving in North London were Heung-min Son, Giovani Lo Celso and Rodrigo Bentancur.