Tottenham have the opportunity to extend their 8-game unbeaten run when stuttering Aston Villa travel to White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Andre Villas-Boas has been doing his utmost to silence his critics, and last weekend enjoyed arguably his finest moment in English football so far, as his side picked up a win over Manchester United at Old Trafford - the club's first since 1989.

AVB fielded a strong team for the midweek draw with Panathanikos, but changes are set to be made for Sunday's clash.

Villa have been the model of inconsistency this season, drawing 1-1 with West Brom last time out having beaten Manchester City 4-2 at the Etihad the game before.

Emmanuel Adebayor has recovered from a hamstring problem and will challenge the in form Jermain Defoe for the lone striker role.

Brad Friedel is expected to start in goal once again, despite France captain Hugo Lloris producing another good performance in Europe on Thursday.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Younes Kaboul, Jake Livermore, Kyle Naughton and Scott Parker are all out injured.

Aston Villa remain without Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne through injury, but Lambert's biggest decision will come in attack.

The Scot must decide whether to start Darren Bent against his former club, after the striker came off the bench to rescue a point against West Brom last time out.

He was reportedly unhappy at being left out of the starting line up, and is desperate to feature against his former employers.

Prediction: Tottenham 3-1 Aston Villa