Aston Villa will forever haunt Arsenal fans after the horrors from last season. The first leg at Villa Park was a tough night, with Arsenal missing a plethora of chances before John McGinn scored what turned out to be the winner against the Gunners. Late on, Kai Havertz scored a goal but there was an incident involving him and Matty Cash and was ruled out. The second leg at the Emirates had bigger implications, as Arsenal’s Jekyll and Hyde performance handed Manchester City the advantage, which eventually led to their fourth Premier League title in a row.
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, is under no illusions that it’s going to be a tough night against Aston Villa,
“It’s one of the toughest places to go for sure. We know that, we’ve prepared really well to understand what we have to do to go there and win the game. They dominate every aspect of the game, when you give them space to run they are phenomenal, when there is no space and they have to find it they can do that. In any restarts or set-pieces, they are at it.
“Tomorrow we go there with that belief and being very clear in what we want to do and what we have to do to earn the right to win the game, and we will certainly try to do that.”
Under Unai Emery, Aston Villa has improved leaps and bounds, especially when the club was in the trenches under Steven Gerrard. Last season, Emery guided them to Champions League football, which was a fantastic achievement.
To team news, Fabio Vieira missed last weekend’s win against Wolves due to a hip problem, but there have been reports that he’s set to leave the club on loan to his former club, FC Porto. Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) are still recuperating from injury. Declan Rice suffered a cramp against Wolves but should be fine. For Aston Villa, they will still be without Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara who suffered nasty knee injuries last season.
Aston Villa and Arsenal Predicted Lineups
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, D. Carlos, Pau, Digne; Tielemans, Onana, Rogers; McGinn, Watkins, Bailey.
Arsenal: Raya; White, Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko; Partey, Rice, Odegaard; Saka, Martinelli, Havertz
Injury / Suspension Updates
Aston Villa: Olsen (knock), Mings (knee), Kamara (knee)
Arsenal: Kieran Tierney (hamstring), Takehiro Tomiyasu (calf)
Form Guide
Aston Villa
- Last Five Games: W
- Last Result: West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa (L. Paqueta 37? | Onana 4?, Duran 79′)
- Leading Goalscorer: Onana, Duran (1)
Arsenal Form
- Last Five Games: W
- Last Result: Arsenal 2-0 Wolves (Havertz 25?, Saka 74?)
- Leading Goalscorer: Havertz, Saka (1)
Gooner Daily predicts a 2 – 0 win.
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