Aston Villa host Arsenal in a huge Premier League matchup at Villa Park.
Victory will see Villa leapfrog Arsenal in the table, but Mikel Arteta’s Gunners could go top with a win depending upon results elsewhere.
Team News
Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report after their win at West Ham, with Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings still sidelined with knee injuries.
Arsenal could welcome Fabio Vieira back from a hip injury.
Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) will be absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Aston Villa host Arsenal in a 5:30pm BST kick-off on Saturday 24 August at Villa Park, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have won two of their last six meetings against Arsenal (W2, L4).
- Arsenal have won two of their last three visits to Villa (W2, L3).
- Villa are looking to win three consecutive games against Arsenal since July 2020 – February 2021.
- Ian Maatsen was the only Villa player caught offside on one occasion in their opening win at West Ham.
- Leandro Trossard scored in three of his last four away appearances for Arsenal in the league.
Prediction
Following their clinical opening win at West Ham where they delivered a calmly composed attacking performance, Villa can come into this home game full of confidence but they will need to be even better defensively if want a result here.
Arsenal meanwhile were absolutely clinical against Wolves with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka looking a nightmare when linking up, so limiting their interactions will be key for Villa but there are other players who can still cause issues.
This game therefore could either be fun or a tactical cagey cat and mouse and I feel that it could be the latter, with a draw suiting both teams at this stage.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Arsenal
Result: Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal