Revenge will be on Arsenal’s minds when the Gunners visit Villa Park to play Aston Villa on the Saturday evening.
Unai Emery did the double over his old team last season, firstly winning a closely fought game at Villa Park where Villa themselves hit the woodwork several times before the home side snatched victory at the death in a match that contained ten moments of genuine controversy in the last ten minutes of the game at Villa Park; then snatching a nervy victory at the Emirates in the last few weeks of the season.
Of all those results, those are easily the two that cost Arsenal their first Premier League title in 20-odd years as they lost out on two points to Manchester City.
The gunners have set the season alight in 2024-25 by shocking Wolves on the first match of the New Year but the journey to the west Midlands is just one of the daunting features that awaits the champions on their fixture list.
Villa scored a late goal in the capital to down West Ham as they seek back to back top-four seasons.
Aston Villa Team News
The Hoyte is a doubt after getting a knock in the east london recently and many expect the right back to feature on saturday. Konsa can be deployed to the right if Cash is benched.
Boubacar Traore and Tyrone Mings are still listed as out with long term injuries.
Emery could be tempted to start Jhon Duran with Ollie Watkins upfront against the Gunners after the South American maintained an impressive Premier League minutes-per-goal last weekend.
Predicted Aston Villa lineup: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Bailey, Tielemans, Onana, McGinn; Watkins, Duran.
Arsenal Team News
Arteta might make a change to his team on Saturday, he could bring Havertz back to playing in the middle of the park as he did in the same fixture here last season. The Spaniard will wish to have as many attacking players in the side as possible because of the visitors’ penchant for pressing high up the pitch while the German has experience playing with Gabriel Jesus.
Jurrien Timber started at the bench last weekend when Oleksandr Zinchenko started and it would be shocking to see the Dutchman be left out at Villa Park looking for added defensive solidity. Riccardo Calafiori will also be hoping for his first Arsenal start.
With regard to the field of personnel changes, there remains good news: a hip injury was suffered by Fabio Vieira, but he can be included in the list for Saturday’s match. This had been absent for the weekend 2-0 triumph over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Tomiyasu and Tierney are also side-lined for the game.
Predicted Arsenal lineup: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Rice, Odegaard, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
Where can I watch Aston Villa vs Arsenal Match?
In the UK, the game will be televised live on Sky Sports Main Event and the Sky Box Office channel. Coverage starts at 5pm.
Live stream: The contes is available live through Sky Go app for those fans who are unable to make it to the venue.
In the US the match will be aired on NBC while onto the go avenue to catch the match is fuboTV in Canada.
In sub saharan Africa the ties destination will be the Supersport Premier League.
Other Places: North Africa and some of Middle East - beIN SPORTS CONNECT/
Caribbean – Csport Persian Gulf. tv/
Australia - Optus Sport/
India - Star Sports Select HD1.