Villa make just two changes to the team that lost to West Ham midweek. They’ve made the fewest changes to their starting line-ups of any Premier League side this season. Arsenal’s two changes are enforced as Bernd Leno and David Luiz are suspended. In come Gabriel and debutant Mat Ryan, who becomes the first Australian to appear for Arsenal in a competitive game since John Kosmina in 1978.
SUBS: Dani Ceballos, Runar Alex Runarsson, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Martinelli, Calum Chambers, Martin Odegaard, Mohamed Elneny, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Willian.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Mat Ryan; Hector Bellerin (c), Rob Holding, Gabriel, Cedric Soares; Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Nicolas Pepe; Alexandre Lacazette.
SUBS: Trezeguet, Ahmed El Mohamady, Anwar El Ghazi, Keinan Davis, Douglas Luiz, Tom Heaton, Jacob Ramsey, Morgan Sanson, Bjorn Engels.
ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez; Matthew Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Matt Targett; Marvelous Nakamba, John McGinn; Bertrand Traore, Ross Barkley, Ross Grealish (c); Ollie Watkins.
Arsenal have recovered from their woeful spell at the end of 2020 but remain inconsistent as their nine-man defeat to Wolves midweek ended their seven game unbeaten run. Villa trounced Arsenal 3-0 at the Emirates back in November but Mikel Arteta’s side have been better lately. It’s 9th versus 10th in the table. Let’s do this!
Aston Villa remain in the hunt for a spot in Europe next season despite their 3-1 loss here to West Ham United three days ago. While Dean Smith’s side have lost four of their last six league games, as many as they had in their previous 18, it’s not beyond them to put together another winning run.
Hello! Welcome to our live text commentary of this Premier League match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Park.
Villa will fancy their chances of getting their first league double over Arsenal since Ron Atkinson oversaw two 1-0 wins over the Gunners in 1992/93. Arsenal have failed to score in their last two matches against Villa, losing both, but they haven’t lost three in a row to the Villans since 1993. This is going to be interesting.