Aston Villa welcome title-chasing Arsenal to Villa Park in a tricky encounter.
Villa can stay 11th in the table with a win, whilst Arsenal can return to the summit with victory before Manchester City visit Nottingham Forest in a mid-afternoon kick-off.
Team News
Tyrone Mings could return for Aston Villa after he missed their defeat at Man City with a minor injury.
Bertrand Traore (knee) is a doubt but Jed Steer and Diego Carlos (both Achilles) remain absent.
Arsenal could again be without midfielder, Thomas Partey after he was ruled out of their midweek loss to Man City with a back injury.
Emile Smith Rowe (quad) is a doubt but Mohamed Elneny and Gabriel Jesus (both knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Arsenal at Villa Park on Saturday 18 February at 12:30pm GMT, live on BT Sport in UK.
Stat Attack
- Aston Villa have won three of their last seven meetings against Arsenal (W3, L4).
- Arsenal have won four of their last six visits to Villa Park (W4, L2).
- None of the last 14 league meetings between Villa and Arsenal have ended in a draw, with the Villains losing 10 and winning four of those matches.
- Each of the last three meetings between Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park have been settled by 1-0 results, with the Villains winning twice to Arsenal’s one victory.
- Villa have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six matches at home in all competitions (W2, D1, L3).
- Each of Arsenal’s last four bookings in away matches in the Premier League have been collected after half-time.
Prediction
Although facing the top two teams in this league in quick succession is a tough task, Villa surely will be fired up for this clash after they were outclassed by Man City, with little end product and poor defensive marking which City superbly punished in the first half.
Arsenal meanwhile seem to have definitely hit a rut with no wins in four games and were purely wasteful in their end product against City in midweek, which ultimately proved their downfall but they now have the advantage of playing before their title rivals this and next week as the hunters.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners though must look to tidy up their end product which has slipped at the worst possible point of the season, yet this fixture has often been kind to Arsenal so I do expect them to bounce back here if they can relentlessly pressure Villa’s defence.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal
Result: Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal
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