Key events
17 min: Mikel Merino tries to advance through midfield with the ball at his feet but is dispossessed by Boubacar Kamara.
15 min: Bukayo Saka forces a save out of Martinez with a shot from distance in a very lively, competitive and entertaining game of football between two very good teams.
13 min: If Watkins had scored there, I think Arsenal might have drawn the referee’s attention to what they perceived to be a foul on Riccardo Calafiori in the build-up. The Italian went down under a challenge from McGinn, who proceeded to play the ball in forward for Watkins. The Villa striker did well to create room for a shot under pressure from Timber and Hincapie but ultimately came up short.
10 min: Ollie Watkins finds himself clean through on goal after a slip from Jurrien Timber but is denied by a superb save from David Raya, who gets low down to his left to keep out the shot from 10 yards. Watkins should have put Villa ahead!
9 min: The ball breaks to Odegaard after Timber wins it high up the field and he tries his luck with a dipping drive from outside the Villa penalty area. He gets plenty of power behind his shot but it’s straight at Martinez.
8 min: Lots of blood and thunder thus far, with both teams pressing high. There’s been little in the way of finesse.
6 min: David Raya miscontrols a backpass with a poor first touch, has a minor panic and launches the ball into the stand as it briefly threatens to trickle over the goalline he’s supposed to be defending.
5 min: Villa seem hell-bent on launching high balls in the direction of the Arsenal backline early doors and Jurrien Timber deals with the latest more than capably despite being swarmed by a couple of attackers.
4 min: Ian Maatsen tries to canter up the left touchline for Villa but has a stop put to his gallop near the halfway line. Arsenal throw-in.
2 min: Jurrien Timber is playing alongside Pierro Hincapie in the heart of Arsenal’s defence, while Ben White is playing at right-back again after his excellent performance against Brentford.
1 min: Arsenal launch the ball forward down the right flank, win a throw-in and then concede a free-kick. From near the corner flag, Emi Martinez wellies the ball upfield as hard as he can.
Aston Villa v Arsenal is go …
1 min: Arsenal get the ball rolling in what could be a thrilling game, their players wearing white shirts, with burgundy shorts and socks. Villa are in their usual home colours.
Not long now: Both sets of players line up in the Villa Park tunnel, all the better to be led out in by Peter Bankes and his team of match officials. Led by Martin Odegaard, Arsenal are one of only two teams to beat Villa on their own turf since August (the others being Crystal Palace, something of a Villa bogey team).
John McGinn wears the armband for a Villa team hoping to make it seven wins on the bounce in all competitions. It’s time to cue the home side’s walk-on music: Crazy Train by the late, great Ozzy Osbourne, who performed live for the final time in his storied career at this ground in July.
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Peter Bankes
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Assistants: Eddie Smart and Blake Antrobus
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Fourth official: Adam Herczeg
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VAR: Darren England
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Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes
Aston Villa: Having failed to win any of their opening six Premier League matches, Unai Emery’s side have won eight of their last nine to catapult themselves up the table. Ben Fisher finds out where it all went right for today’s hosts …
Aston Villa v Arsenal line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash. Konsa, Torres, Maatsen, Onana, Tielemans, Kamara, McGinn, Rogers, Watkins
Subs: Bizot, Lindelof, Digne, Garcia, Bogarde, Hemmings, Buendia, Malen, Sancho
Arsenal: Raya, White, Timber, Hincapie, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Eze, Merino
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Salmon, Martinelli, Gyokeres, Norgaard, Trossard, Madueke, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly.
Declan Rice and Emi Martinez both start
There’s good news for both teams, in so far as Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has been passed fit to line up at Villa Park despite being forced off with seven minutes to go in Arsenal’s win over Brentford on Wednesday. Emi Martinez missed Villa’s victory over Brighton on the same evening but has also been deemed sufficiently fit to line up against his former club.
In considerably less good news for Arsenal, Gabriel and William Saliba remain absent from the heart of the visitors’ defence, while Cristhian Mosquera is also out. Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Jurrien Timber are all back in the side, while Mosquera, Noni Madueka and Gabriel Martinelli make way.
Unai Emery makes two changes to the Villa side that did so well against Brighton. Martinez is back between the sticks in place of Marco Bizot, while Youri Tielemans comes into the side with Evann Guessand dropping out. He’s not in Villa’s matchday squad.
Early team news
Mikel Arteta was understandably coy upon being asked about the availability of Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera yesterday, saying “we’ll see, because every hour is important at this stage”. Gabriel is definitely out, while Arteta said the Brazilian’s centre-back partner William Saliba is “days away” from a return, much like Leandro Torrassard. Kai Havertz remains sidelined with a knee injury, while Garbiel Jesus has been an unused substitute in Arsenal’s last two league games and is waiting to make his first appearance of the season after nearly 11 months out with a ruptured ACL.
Having been forced out of Villa’s helter-skelter win over Brighton in the warm-up, Emi Martinez said he wouldn’t know if the Argentinian goalkeeper would be fit for today’s game “until the last minute”. Tyrone Mings remains out with a thigh injury and is not expected to be back for another four weeks, while Ross Barkley is back in the treatment room with a knee injury after a run of eight games and is not expected to be back in action until February.
Premier League: Aston Villa v Arsenal
Good day everybody, wherever you might be and here’s hoping you’ve all recovered from the surreal, stilted, extremely long, unintentionally funny and occasionally downright unpleasant experience that was last night’s World Cup draw. Having been tasked with liveblogging that particular fever dream, it’s nice for me to be back in action doing something a little more straightforward and less weird – an actual football match between the top two teams in the Premier League form table: Aston Villa and Arsenal.
The top team in the actual Premier League table, Arsenal can increase the gap to their nearest rivals to eight points with a win in today’s early kick-off but will have to beat an Aston Villa side who have won eight of their last nine top flight matches to do so. Mikel Arteta’s side chalked up a fairly routine 2-0 win against Brentford last time out.
Under Unai Emery, who endured an unproductive 18-month spell in charge of Arsenal before being replaced by Arteta in 2019, Villa’s recovery from a surprisingly sluggish start to the season has been little short of remarkable and a win today would see them leapfrog Manchester City to go second in the table and – whisper it – possibly start getting mentioned in passing as potential title contenders. They come into today’s match still high on the hog after a thrilling 4-3 win against Brighton on Wednesday night in which Ollie Watkins ended his long barren spell with two goals. Kick-off at Villa Park is at 12.30pm (GMT) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
Source From: Premier League | The Guardian
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