Aston Villa travel to Tottenham seeking first Premier League win of the season

Aston Villa visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium today for a 12:30 UK time kick-off, hoping to secure their first Premier League victory of the campaign. The Express & Star frames the encounter as a meeting between two squads who entered the season with European ambitions but have found points hard to come by so far.

Unai Emery's team have collected just one point from their opening three league fixtures. A narrow defeat to Arsenal at Villa Park was followed by a goalless draw at the MKM Stadium against Hull City, before Nottingham Forest left Birmingham with all three points last weekend.

Villa did find some rhythm in midweek, travelling to the Coventry Building Society Arena on Wednesday night to beat Coventry City 3-1 in the League Cup. That result will offer encouragement heading into north London, even if cup football presents a different challenge.

The summer transfer window closed on 1 September, leaving Emery to integrate a heavily reshaped squad. New arrivals including Nicolas Jackson, Leon Goretzka, Alejandro Garnacho and Taylor Harwood-Bellis are still finding their feet following the departures of several established first-team players.

Tottenham arrive at this fixture under similar pressure to turn promising pre-season expectations into tangible results. With neither side having won in the division yet, the stakes for both sets of supporters are considerable.

After today's trip to the capital, Villa return to European competition. Their 3-2 Champions League victory over Club Brugge earlier this month demonstrated what this group can produce on its day, and replicating that intensity in the Premier League remains the immediate priority.