Goal.com

Hugo Lloris made his first league start of the season in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, leaving Friedel disappointed - but AVB yet to decide on who will face Chelsea

Andre Villas-Boas insists no final decision has been made on who will be Tottenham’s first choice goalkeeper after Hugo Lloris was selected over Brad Friedel in the 2-0 win against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Lloris, the €15 million summer signing from Lyon, was handed his first league start, ending 41-year-old Friedel’s run of 310 consecutive Premier League appearances.

The France No.1 kept a clean sheet but Villas-Boas was careful to praise Friedel’s “immense” displays and refused to be drawn on who will start their next fixture against Chelsea on September 20.

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“The change was not based on performance because Brad has been immense. In the future we will have to decide on who to play,” explained Villas-Boas.

“We decided after speaking about it with the technical staff that it would be logical to get Hugo acquainted with Premier League games - he can’t only play in the Europa League. He will now play with the national team and get a continuum of four games in a row.

“We spoke with Brad because he deserves that respect. He was obviously disappointed with the decision but he respected it, being the good professional that he is.”

Tottenham’s victory, thanks to second-half goals from Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon, was their fourth league win in a row and leaves them fifth in the table ahead of the visit of unbeaten leaders Chelsea.

Having already beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford, Villas-Boas is already relishing the visit of his former club when they come to White Hart Lane after the two-week international break.

“We now have the opportunity to play the unbeaten league leaders at home in our next game in two weeks,” Villas-Boas added.

“Chelsea’s attacking force is surprising everybody and we understand the movement they have in behind Fernando will cause problems. It will be a difficult came but we hope to profit from the fact that we are playing at home and playing well.

“Our good form is a boost but it’s not better than Chelsea’s. Chelsea are in extremely good form. Both managers will have to look at the recovery period to put out a fresh team.

“When this stadium rocks, it rocks properly. It’s a very closed environment and we need to get that type of intensity.

“It’s very early stages but at the moment we are getting the results that we want.

“At the start of the season we didn’t get the results we wanted but we are getting more consistent now."