Preview: Arsenal v Aston Villa – Team news, lineups, betting odds, prediction
Aston Villa travel to Emirates Stadium on Saturday to face an Arsenal side with aspirations of winning the Premier League.
The Villans secured their third straight win on Wednesday (15 January) with a 1-0 win against David Moyes’ Everton, courtesy of an Ollie Watkins goal.
Unai Emery’s side enter the clash against the Gunners just three points outside of the Champions League spots, while the hosts finds themselves four points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Preview
Villa have found a healthy vein of form in recent weeks, having won their last three games, but an away clash against Arsenal will provide them with one of their biggest tests yet.
Their close-contested win against Everton put them right back into contention for Champions League qualification, but with 17 games to go, there’s still a lot of work to do.
As for the hosts, a 2-1 win against rivals Tottenham maintained their title hopes, although Liverpool do have a game in hand on them.
Villa will need to be at their best if they are to get anything from the game and, although it ended with a win, the performance showcased against the Toffees is unlikely to be enough this time around.
Form Guide (Premier League)
Arsenal: WWWDW
Aston Villa: WLDWW
Head-To-Head (Premier League)
Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal (August 2024)
Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa (April 2024)
Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal (December 2023)
Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal (February 2023)
Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa (August 2022)
Team News
Villa were boosted by the arrival of Donyell Malen this week, although the Dutchman was ineligible to feature against Everton. His debut could come against the Gunners.
Diego Carlos was absent from the win against Everton and is still a doubt for Arsenal, while Pau Torres, John McGinn and Ross Barkley will all be sidelined.
As for Arsenal, their injury list is cause for concern with as many as six first-team players set to miss the clash.
Gabriel Jesus was ruled out for the season with an ACL injury while Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri are expected to be out until February.
Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Riccardo Calafiori are all doubts.
Predicted lineups
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Trossard, Sterling, Havertz
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, Kamara, Onana, Tielemans, Rogers, Bailey, Watkins
Betting Odds
Via Bet365 [16 January]
Arsenal: 12/25
Draw: 16/2
Aston Villa: 6/1
Prediction: Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa
Arsenal may just have too much at home for Villa to come away with all three points, but a draw looks to be very achievable.
Their clash with Everton lacked much quality in the final third and, given the quality across the Gunners backline, if that was to continue they will struggle.
However, Villa should have enough to be able to cause problems for Mikel Arteta’s side and a draw could be the outcome.
In other Aston Villa news, an approach has been made to sign this Bundesliga defender.
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