Remi Garde might be on the verge of being named the new Aston Villa manager, but the midlands team need to find inspiration from somewhere before that on Monday, when they visit White Hart Lane to play Tottenham in the English Premier League.
Rooted to the bottom with a mere four points from ten matches, Villa know more below-par performances, and their time in the Premier League will be over, with even Garde, who is expected to be named the new manager soon, then unable to inspire survival.
Caretaker manager Kevin McDonald acknowledged the tricky situation Aston Villa find themselves in, while backing his team to find the necessarily goals to triumph over Spurs.
"I can remember times as a player when I played badly," McDonald told the club's official website. "But that never stopped me getting up and trying to be the best I could -- whether it be aggressive or positive or just standing up and being counted.
"From what I've seen of these players, they are prepared to stand up and be counted.
"There are quite a few of them over the period who have given me a 'wow he can do that'. But can he do it for 90 minutes? Can he do it for 38 games?
"They have to give us that wow factor very, very soon -- and then over an extended period. That's not just the new players, it is all of them.
"I think these young players, plus the older ones, have enough quality to keep Aston Villa in the Premier League."
Tim Sherwood certainly could not find that "wow factor" from his players often enough, which is why Tottenham will fancy their chances in this match.
With Harry Kane finally finding those missing goalscoring boots with a hat-trick last weekend, signs are ominous for Villa going into this game.
"It's a period that was new for him but it was important for him to experience the other side of football," Mauricio Pochettino said of Kane's struggles in front of goal this season. "When you are a striker and you are scoring goals, everything is nice and the sun is always shining. But when you stop scoring, everything is always dark.
"When things in football are good or bad, it is important to keep working hard and that was the key for him to start scoring again."
Aston Villa could certainly use an escape route from the dark side as well; if that escape will begin with a victory at White Hart Lane, time will tell.
Live streaming and TV information (Where to watch live)
Tottenham vs Aston villa is scheduled for an 8 pm local time (1.30 am IST, 4 am ET) start. Live TV coverage of the English Premier League match in India will be on Star Sports 2, while all the Premier League action can be watched via live streaming online on Hotstar and Starsports.com.
Sky Sports 1 will broadcast the Premier League match live in the UK, while the action can also be live streamed online on Watch Sky Sports.
Watch the EPL game live in the US on NBCSN, with the live stream option on NBC Sports Live Extra. Canada viewers can watch the game live on Sportsnet, with the live stream option on Sportsnet World Online.
Australia viewers can catch the EPL action live on Fox Sports, while the online live streaming options are on Fox Sports On Demand and Foxtel Play.
Viewers in the Middle East and North Africa can watch Spurs play Aston Villa live on Bein Sports Arabia and Bein Sports Connect.
