Aston Villa meets Tottenham on Tuesday in the 2013 Capital One Cup. The match starts at 2:45 p.m. EDT (7:45 p.m. BST). Watch the free live stream HERE.
The biggest issue for both teams is fatigue, according to IB Times. Tottenham is playing its third match in six days, and Aston Villa has a small squad that's been logging a lot of playing time. Coming off of a 1-0 win over Cardiff City on Sunday, Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas admitted Tuesday's match will be difficult because of only one day of rest between games, something he's not pleased about.
"This is an impossible game for us to play, but hopefully our team spirit and motivation can get us through," he said, via IB Times. "It could be possible for the players who played against Cardiff to play this game, but I am not sure I want to risk the players who played getting a hamstring injury which could take six weeks to recover from when the Premier League is more important.
"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.
"We are struggling a little bit with injuries but we have great strength in depth, although it is not going to be easy."
In another interview, Villas-Boas was more honest about his thoughts on the scheduling.
"How can a game be scheduled after two days, immediately putting careers at risk with injuries?" he said, according to Goal.com. "I find it absolutely incredible that we have to risk injuries to our players in a game that they play on that Tuesday. The problem is that it puts the players in a very difficult situation."
Villa last played on Saturday, when they defeated Norwich City, 1-0. Villa, the semi-finalists in last year's tournament, earned a spot with a 3-0 win over Rotherham United, according to Goal.com.
Projected Squads (via IB Times):
Aston Villa: Steer; Lowton, Baker, Clark, Bennett; El Ahmady, Sylla, Delph; Albrighton, Kozak, Hlenius.
Tottenham: Friedel; Naughton, Dawson, Chiriches, Sandro, Holtby; Townsend, Lamela, Sigurdsson; Defoe.
