All season, prior to the West Ham game, I was one of many Spurs fans who had been championing Jermain Defoe to get a Premier League start. Andre Villas-Boas gave in to the pressure and gave him his chance and it went very wrong. Defoe's performances and goals in lesser competitions, against lesser teams, have been great, but when he came in from the start against West Ham United, he did absolutely nothing. Soldado had at least been contributing to other people's goals, making decent runs and playing his part in build-up play in the Premier League, even if he has gone a while without scoring. The Spaniard is so obviously the superior striker and will no doubt be picked ahead of Defoe for this match and rightly so. Spurs spent a lot of money on him for a reason and his goals will come, he just needs a bit more time. Against a full strength Aston Villa side, despite scoring a couple in the League Cup against their weakened team, Defoe will surely be used as an impact substitute if and when Tottenham Hotspur need him nothing more.
