Benteke is back: Why Spurs should be wary of the towering Belgian

Benteke (C) wins a header vs Chelsea

Andre Villas-Boas won’t be pleased to hear the news coming from the BBC Sport that Christian Benteke could be fit to face his Spurs side on at Villa Park on Sunday. Benteke was on the bench for Belgium in their final World Cup qualifier on Tuesday night and Lambert has said he expects him to be fit if they were willing to include him in the squad.

Since moving to the Premier last summer, Benteke has scored 23 goals in 39 appearances and leads the club’s scoring charts this season with five goals despite missing the last two games through injury.

Spurs will have to consider the towering Belgian more of a threat than normal as their aerial duels have been a cause for concern so far this season, winning just 44% of their contests.

Only three teams in the Premier League have fared worse in aerial duels

Unfortunately for Tottenham this happens to be an area that Benteke excels in, earning a reputation as a powerhouse since his arrival. Last season, the former Genk striker was second only behind Peter Crouch in aerial duels won, winning 268 of his 467 aerial challenges.

His ability to win the ball in the air allows his forward partners to get involved in Aston Villa’s attacks and he created a club high 51 chances last season, with four of them directly leading to goals.

An average pass length of 20 metres – the second highest in the league – suggests that Villa tend to play the ball long to utilise Benteke’s aerial prowess; something Spurs’ defence must be dreading before facing him on Sunday.

Although they didn’t have the best of times against the north London club last season, Villa have been in exciting form of late and will be looking to avenge the thrashing Spurs handed them at Villa Park last season. If Andre Villas-Boas wants to confine the defeat to West Ham to the history books, he must find a way to win at Villa Park this weekend and central to that is containing the threat of a returning Benteke.

Second only to Manchester City in the possession charts this season, Spurs must use this to their advantage and control the game in order to prevent Benteke pouncing on the sort of service he thrives on. Just coming back from injury, seeing less of the ball would keep him on the periphery.

If Spurs are to bounce back from the morale-denting 3-0 loss to West Ham, it’s paramount they use their heads and keep Benteke from using his.

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