Team News: Christian Benteke only on Aston Villa bench

Influential striker Christian Benteke has failed to recover from his hip injury in time to start for Aston Villa in their Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon.

The Belgian international is named among the home substitutes and, in his absence, Libor Kozak leads the line at Villa Park as Paul Lambert makes just the one change, swapping Ciaran Clark for Nathan Baker.

Spurs hand a Premier League debut to Romanian centre-back Vlad Chiriches, while Brazilian midfielder Sandro makes his first top-flight start since suffering an injury against Fulham in January.

Moussa Dembele and Kyle Naughton both drop out, with Jan Vertonghen shifted across to left-back to cover for the injured Danny Rose.

Lewis Holtby is preferred to Christian Eriksen in the number 10 role, and Roberto Soldado is recalled in attack, with Jermain Defoe demoted to a bench that includes fit-again winger Aaron Lennon.

Villa: Guzan; Bacuna, Vlaar, Baker, Luna; El Ahmadi, Westwood, Delph; Weimann, Agbonlahor, Kozak Subs: Steer, Helenius, Sylla, Benteke, Bowery, Tonev, Lowton

Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Chiriches, Dawson, Vertonghen; Paulinho, Sandro; Townsend, Holtby, Sigurdsson; Soldado Subs: Friedel, Naughton, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Lennon, Defoe