Aston Villa host Arsenal in a mouth-watering Premier League clash this weekend.
Aston Villa have recent happy memories against the Gunners, as last season, they registered a league double over Mikel Arteta’s men.
Unai Emery’s side secured a 1-0 victory at Villa Park before effectively handing Manchester City the title with a 2-1 win at the Emirates.
When asked about why Arsenal struggled in both fixtures last term, Arteta claimed the Villans are ‘dominant’ in every aspect and exploit space ‘phenomenally’ well.
Emery had his fellow Spaniard’s number on both occasions, as he tactically outsmarted him. He now posts a record of three wins in five against the man in the opposite dugout, and he’ll be looking to make it a fourth on Saturday evening.
- READ MORE: Chris Sutton goes against his gut feeling with bold Aston Villa vs Arsenal score prediction
Aston Villa injury news ahead of Arsenal
Aston Villa have a relatively clean bill of health. Following last weekend’s win over West Ham, his squad picked up no further injuries.
Matty Cash was taken off in the second half and appeared to have a knock to the top of his leg, although Emery never mentioned him in his pre-match press conference, so he’s presumably fit to play.
He did however, provide positive updates on long-term absentees Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara.
Kamara, who suffered an ACL injury in the defeat against Manchester United in February, is apparently ‘progressing a lot’ and is on the verge of returning to training.
Mings, meanwhile, hasn’t played a single minute of action since injuring his ACL in Villa’s opening-day defeat against Newcastle United last year.
It’s been a long and dark road to recovery but there is light at the end of the tunnel, with Emery confirming that he’s close to returning to the squad and feels ‘very good’.
- READ MORE: Aston Villa icon Jack Grealish names the ‘best youngster’ he’s ever played with, it’s a surprise
Predicted Aston Villa XI to face Arsenal
Emi Martinez is fresh from signing a new five-year contract at Villa and will want to continue showing what Arsenal are missing after they sold him to Villa in 2020.
In front of Martinez, Emery could make one change to the side that beat West Ham. Diego Carlos played a crucial role against Arsenal last year and he could make a rare start alongside Pau Torres with Cash dropping out and Ezri Konsa moving to right-back.
Cash is often ‘clumsy’ defensively and Konsa is one of the toughest defenders to dribble past in the Premier League, so this could be a tactical ploy to deal with Gabriel Martinelli, while Lucas Digne will need to be at his best to stop Bukayo Saka.
As for the midfield, Amadou Onana impressed on his debut by scoring a powerful header and he will keep his place, presumably next to international teammate Youri Tielemans.
Pulling the strings from deep will be the Belgian maestro, while ahead of him, Leon Bailey can terrorise Oleksandr Zinchenko on the right, Morgan Rogers can occupy the pockets of space in the 10 and captain John McGinn should start on the left.
That leaves the main man Ollie Watkins spearheading the attack. Despite being substituted after looking rusty, with Jhon Duran scoring the winner, it would be typical for Watkins to turn up and score a decisive goal.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Konsa, Torres, Carlos, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins.
