Aston Villa are preparing for their mouth-watering Premier League clash against Arsenal, with Mikel Arteta praising one aspect of their game.
After securing a late victory over West Ham United last weekend, Aston Villa host Arsenal on Saturday evening as an exciting spectacle awaits.
Chris Sutton is predicting the Villans to narrowly lose against the Gunners however, their recent form in this fixture will fill Unai Emery with some confidence.
Emery completed the double over his former club last term, as his side secured a 1-0 win at Villa Park before effectively ending their title hopes with a 2-1 victory at the Emirates.
The Spaniard boasts three wins in five games against Mikel Arteta, who has now explained what makes playing Aston Villa so difficult.
Mikel Arteta picks out ‘phenomenal’ aspect of Aston Villa’s game
Emery managed to tactically outsmart his opposite number last term as Villa picked off Arsenal on the counter attack.
The Villans capitalised on the Gunners squandering multiple opportunities to score, particularly at Emirates, as they showed a clinical edge on the break.
Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins were the scorers in April’s win and it was their quality in the final third that made the difference on that afternoon.
When asked about why Arteta found it so difficult to play against Aston Villa, he claimed they ‘dominate’ every aspect of the game and when given space, he described them as ‘phenomenal’.
Speaking in Arsenal’s pre-match press conference, Arteta said: “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, and that’s why they did what they did.”
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How Aston Villa can exploit Arsenal’s weakness
Arsenal’s only league defeat of 2024 so far came against Aston Villa in that clash in April, which handed Manchester City the initiative in the title race.
Emery will have a plan to record a third successive win over the Gunners and he’ll be targeting the minimal weak spots that Arteta’s men have.
Leon Bailey was dynamite in this fixture last season and he can flourish against left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was previously described as a ‘liability’ defensively by Gary Neville.
Whilst Villa fans can expect the Jamaican to have joy on that side, they’ll be looking for Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans to win the midfield battle against Thomas Partey and Declan Rice.
Onana was dominant in the 2-1 win against West Ham and Partey, who the Gunners are looking to replace with Mikel Merino, is a weak spot in the middle of the park.
If Emery can exploit those two players, providing they start the fixture, Aston Villa will have a great chance of handing the Gunners only their second league defeat this year.
