Unai Emery is looking to upset his former club Arsenal for the second successive season when he takes his Aston Villa team to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
The Villans secured an impressive 2-0 victory in this fixture last term, with defeat proving costly for Arsenal in the Premier League title race. Late goals from Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey consigned the Gunners to a miserable afternoon.
Having won their previous three matches, Villa will be keen to repeat last season’s heroics at the Emirates on Saturday, but will face a reinvigorated Arsenal side fresh from their narrow north London derby triumph against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.
Two goals in the space of four minutes secured a comeback win that saw Arsenal move within four points of league leaders Liverpool having played a game more. Mikel Arteta will be hoping fellow Londoners Brentford can do his side a favour when they host the Reds earlier in the day.
Arsenal’s injury issues are mounting as Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off with an ACL injury against Manchester United in the FA Cup last weekend. The Brazilian won’t feature again this season and the Gunners are short in attacking areas with Bukayo Saka also sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Ethan Nwaneri had made an impressive impact in recent weeks but is currently in the treatment room, joining defensive absentees Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Riccardo Calafiori missed the north London derby with a muscle injury but could feature against Villa.
Arsenal lineup vs Aston Villa (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Trossard, Havertz, Martinelli.
Donyell Malen was Villa’s first signing of the January window and the former Borussia Dortmund winger arrives with lofty expectations. He could make his debut at the Emirates, although Emery may be tempted to offer him time to settle.
John McGinn and Ross Barkley are still absent in the centre of the park, potentially proving big misses for Villa in north London.
Emery is also without two of his senior centre-backs, with Pau Torres and Diego Carlos sidelined. The latter could well leave Villa Park in January amid significant interest from Turkey.
Aston Villa lineup vs Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Onana; Rogers, Tielemans, Ramsey; Watkins.
