Aston Villa play hosts to Arsenal on Saturday at Villa Park as both the teams look desperate for the three points to stay at the top-half of the points table. Arsenal were having a pretty good run-of-form, having a six-match unbeaten run in the Premier League which was halted by a controversial 2-1 defeat by Wolves in which the team saw both their players David Luiz and Brend Leno sent-off. This result has left the North London side a bit disappointed and are now currently sitting at 10th in the points table. But all is not gone for the Gunners as they can climb up the ladder above Spurs and can be just behind Chelsea by 2 points, who are currently placed 6th in the table if the gunners secure a win on Saturday against Aston Villa.
Speaking of Aston Villa, the Villains will be heading into this Saturday’s match having a bit disappointed, losing 3-1 at home against West Ham on Wednesday and will be in a desperate position to get back to their winning ways. They are currently in 9th position, above Arsenal in the table, and come this Saturday, they will look to cement their place at the top half of the table.
Arsenal Team News vs Aston Villa
Arsenal are having fresh roaster issues and they will have to make changes in their starting 11 as David Luiz and Brend Leno were shown red card during their match against Wolves. So, to replace Luiz, his countryman Gabriel Magalhaes will be recalled alongside Rob Holding to hold their defence against Aston Villa and to replace Leno, Runar Alex Runarsson is the one most likely to take the goalkeeper position and will be making his ‘First Premier League start’ for the Gunners in front of goal after his costly errors in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.
The Aussie goalkeeper Mathew Ryan was also on the talks to replace Bernd Leno in front of goal but later during the pre-match press conference, Arteta said that he has not trained till that moment and until-and -unless that changes, the Icelander will be the one who will be replacing Leno. Apart from David Luiz and Bernd Leno, injuries to Pablo Mari and Kieran Tierney has also left them on the bench. Cedric Soares will be replacing Kieran Tierney for the full-back spot.
Looking at the previous match, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka will be the regular choices for Arteta in the midfield for the game against Villa on Saturday and Emile Smith-Rowe should continue from the number 10 role. The key decision that the Arsenal boss Arteta have to make is to decide who will start the match on the left flank. Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka are most likely to be in the left and right-wing positions respectively with Alexandre Lacazette upfront spearheading the Arsenal attack on Saturday against the Villains.
There are many questions surrounding who will be appearing on the left flank as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was appearing off the bench against Wolves. There is no denying that he is an important part of this Arsenal set-up and is a looming influence on this team, being Arsenal’s talisman, but Aubameyang’s fitness is still an issue to look forward to. Unlike Pepe, who has been hitting fine form and is performing really well and scoring back-to-back goals for Arsenal, it’s only safe to say that Arteta will be giving Pepe another start against Aston Villa.
Arsenal predicted XI vs Aston Villa:
Ryan; Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette.
