Aston Villa face a tricky away trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday as they hope to bounce back from a few disappointing results.

As Villa were losing to Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night, over in the capital, Spurs defeated Manchester City to progress through to the quarter-finals.

This came days after Unai Emery's side dropped points at home to Bournemouth in the Premier League after conceding a 96th-minute equaliser.

What's interesting is that Emery gave several of his star players days off after that Bournemouth game, from Yashin 2024 Trophy winner Emi Martinez to goalscorer Ollie Watkins.

But a few big guns, who have either been on the bench or coming back from long-term injuries, were handed much-needed minutes in the EFL Cup and you wonder if any of them will earn a start against Spurs.

Given the type of performance Aston Villa put out against Palace - and they also beat Tottenham last week - then not many of them can shout out loud.

Even the man who can't stop scoring!

Paul Merson tells Jhon Duran he will be on the bench for Aston Villa at Tottenham Jhon Duran did score against Palace to continue his hot-scoring streak this season and keep the pressure on Watkins.

From scoring in back-to-back Champions League matches and any time he comes off the bench, the cries for Duran to start have been getting louder and louder.

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But Merson feels the Colombian star is one who 'affects football matches' and he simply can't see him starting ahead of Watkins, as he told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (02/11/24 at 1:05 pm).

"As a manager, he is nice to have," said Merson about Duran. "I would have him on the bench every week. He won't play in front of Watkins, in my opinion.

"I think he is one of these players that affects football matches when he comes on more than he starts games, and that is a massive thing.

"It's not easy to come on a pitch in a Premier League game, which is 100 miles an hour, and get into the flow of the game and affect football matches. And he does that."

It looked like the 20-year-old was going to go, it was just a case of putting the required money on the table, yet no one did.

But Duran ended up signing a new Villa contract after a blistering start to the season where he has scored eight goals in all competitions in just 527 minutes of football, according to Tranfermarkt.