Smith has also addressed the future of Jack Grealish, who is being targeted by Manchester United, and insists the club's talisman won't be let go "without a fight".

“I’ve said many times we’ve two magnificent owners who want to be successful at this football club, and they’ve an awful lot of money, which they’ve collected from their hard work in their businesses. If you want to be a successful team you have to keep your best players, and they will be working very hard to ensure our best players stay at this football club. That’s probably the best answer I can give the fans.”

Dean Smith is hoping the winter break has managed to inject a new lease of life into his squad. Despite being impressive in spurts, Villa have lacked consistency throughout this season, particularly in defence where they have conceded 12 goals in their last five league games.

“It’s a tough league, one in which it is difficult to build consistency because of the quality of the other teams in there, but I feel we’ve just started to build that consistency. As everybody knows, we had a big turnaround [of players] in the summer and they’re starting to gel. For the first time we’ve had a mini-break and we’ve seen a positive side to it. It gave everybody a chance to have some time away from the place, and to clear their heads.”

Steven Bergwijn starts again for Spurs today. It's fair to say the Dutch international had a debut to remember against Manchester City.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho has also tinkered with his starting line-up. Ben Davies returns at full-back while Eric Dier comes into defensive midfield at the expense of Giovani Lo Celso.

The teams are in!

Ezri Konsa returns for Aston Villa with Tyrone Mings out due to tonsillitis. Danny Drinkwater also starts.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith is hoping his assistant, John Terry, can help "plot Tottenham's downfall". Terry worked under Mourinho at Chelsea for almost six seasons, winning three Premier League titles.

Asked if he would be picking Terry's brain ahead of the game, Smith replied: "I have been picking JT's brains for the last 18 months! Hopefully the combined brains of myself, JT and Richard can overcome Jose. JT's been his captain twice at Chelsea and they've won a lot of trophies together. They've got a deep respect for each other. JT's openly spoken about the admiration he has for Jose as a coach and a person when they were at Chelsea. But the dynamics are different now. He's on my bench and he's sat behind me giving me bits of information that I'll need. We'll try and plot the downfall of one of his ex-coaches."

Jose Mourinho's side can close the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea to just a single point, with Frank Lampard's side facing Manchester United on Monday evening. However, with a Champions League tie against RB Leipzig to come on Wednesday, followed by a visit of their own to Stamford Bridge next Saturday, Mourinho has voiced his discontent over the congested fixture schedule.

"You can tell me it was because our game was chosen to be on TV on Sunday and I ask you, in the other five matches of the Premier League this weekend, there is not another one that could be played on Sunday at 2.30pm? It's as simple as that. That's the only thing I say - there is no care. They just chose what they want and they don't think how they can hurt an English team."

Welcome to The Independent's live coverage as Tottenham Hotspur look to narrow the gap on the top four when they take on Aston Villa.