Ange Postecoglou will not entertain talk of revenge when Tottenham visit Aston Villa in what looks a crucial match in the battle for Champions League qualification.
With Villa in fourth spot in the Premier League and Spurs fifth, the hosts can take confidence from the fact they’ve won the last three meetings with Tottenham.
But the narrative of revenge surrounds an incident from the previous clash on November 25.
The fixture marked Rodrigo Bentancur’s first start in nine months, but it was cut short by an ill-timed tackle from Villa full-back Matty Cash that earned him a caution and forced the Uruguayan off after 32 minutes with an ankle injury.
Cash’s challenge sparked a melee between both sets of players and had unavailable Spurs personnel gunning for the defender, who was later given an escort by his teammates to the away dressing room at halftime.
Yet Postecoglou laughed off suggestions payback could be on the cards.
He insisted: “No interest mate.
“For us, the challenge is to face a really good team, with really strong home form and beyond that you’d be surprised about how little that stuff infiltrates what we do and sort of our motivations for a game of football.
“If anything, they’re the type of things where you hope that as you mature and develop as a team become less and less important or a focus.
“When you’re clutching at those kinds of things, you’re losing sense of what’s important. What’s important for us is to be at our best against a very good football team and try to get a result.”
Postecoglou lavished praise on his centre-back Cristian Romero, who has developed a new habit for goals after he headed in his fourth of the campaign in last weekend’s 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
“He’s outstanding but I thought he was from day one,” Postecoglou said.
Spurs will have Pedro Porro available for the Villa Park clash, but Richarlison is set to remain sidelined with a knee injury.
Source: AAP