Both managers, Thomas Frank and Unai Emery, come into the game under vastly different circumstances.
Contrasting fortunes for the managers
The Spaniard can seemingly do no wrong at Villa Park, and a recent 11-game winning run equalled a club record.
Flying high in the Premier League too, the Villans are level on points with Man City and are just six behind leaders Arsenal.
The Dane, on the other hand, is enduring a reasonably torrid time.
An image of him being completely ignored by Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven earlier in the season will live long in the memory, and the North Londoners just haven't inspired with their level of performance.
That a poor set of results has also followed - the club are currently 14th, 16 points behind their next opponents, haven't won in 2026 and have only won two Premier League games in their last 12 - has just added to Frank's woes.
As has a recent outburst by Spurs captain, Cristian Romero, that kept the headline writers in business.
FA Cup could give Tottenham some respite
To give even more context to the North Londoners' current predicament, it should be pointed out that only bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers have suffered more Premier League defeats (36) than the Lilywhites since the start of last season (Spurs are currently level with West Ham and Southampton with 30 losses in that time)
However, where FA Cup Third Round football is concerned, Tottenham might well have the upper hand.
That's because they've reached the fourth round in 18 of their last 19 FA Cup campaigns, including in each of the last 11 seasons, since losing 2-0 at Arsenal in 2013-14.
Villa, meanwhile, have won their last two FA Cup third-round ties, but were knocked out at this stage of the competition in each of the previous seven seasons.
One of those victories led them to a fourth round tie against the North Londoners last season, a match which Villa won 2-1 thanks to goals from Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers. Mathys Tel's late reply didn't come until injury time.
At that time, Spurs were coached by Ange Postecoglou, sacked at the end of the season despite winning the Europa League with them.
The last team to eliminate the North Londoners from the FA Cup in consecutive seasons was Man Utd in 2007/08 and 2008/09, and despite their poor third round record, Villa will be trying to do the same.
Frank on borrowed time in North London
Frank, unfortunately, already seems to be on borrowed time, and another defeat could well sound the death knell for his career in the blue and white half of North London.
The Midlanders have already won 2-1 at Spurs in the Premier League this season, of course, and they've got the better of the Lilywhites of late with wins in three straight matches, dating to February 2025. Villa have outscored Spurs 6-2 during that winning streak.
They will be without Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley for the fixture; however, Emery might be able to welcome back long-term injury absentee Tyrone Mings.
Other than those three players, the Spaniard should find his squad has a clean bill of health.
Injuries still hurting Tottenham
Tottenham's bad luck extends to their injury list - something that Postecoglou always bemoaned.
James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Mo Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski are definitely out, with Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur unlikely to play any part either after sustaining muscle injuries.
Destiny Udogie has been out since early December, too, but he could find himself back in contention after a late fitness test.
For those supporters attending the game in person, they should at least be assured of seeing goals in the game.
Goals on the cards
In the last six head-to-head meetings, there have been no goalless draws, and only on one separate occasion has one side or the other failed to score.
Furthermore, in each of those six games, one of the teams has scored at least twice.
A cup run for any team is always nice too, though it could be argued that both sides have more important priorities related to their league status.
Villa won't want to tail off at the crucial moment of what is emerging as a three-horse title race, whilst Tottenham can't realistically afford to finish outside of the European places.
Both managers' team selections will tell us much about their priorities in this regard, notwithstanding that their Champions League assignments will soon return to add further pressure to players and managers alike.
