Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel is ready to face former club Aston Villa tonight.

Villa arrive at the Lane having suffered just two defeats in the league this season.

"They are a tremendous football club with a big following and the owner and chief executive are terrific people," he told the Spurs website.

"They really went for it over the time I was there trying to get into the Champions League spots and brought some tremendous players into the squad.

"Everyone can see how good a player Stilyan Petrov is; they have a very good goalkeeper in Shay Given; one of the best centre-back pairings in the league in Richard Dunne and James Collins; Gabby Agbonlahor is playing exceptionally well, while Emile Heskey always puts a shift in and makes it difficult for defenders.

"They also have some talented youngsters such as Marc Albrighton, Chris Herd and Barry Bannan.

"Obviously it will be nice to see some friendly faces in the opposition dressing room, but once the whistle blows I'll just be concentrating on trying to help us to win the game.

"This will be a very difficult match for us, they like to play football but so do we, so it could be entertaining."