Arsenal – Aston Villa: Match Preview
Table of Contents
December 30. 22:15.London. Emirates Stadium
Championship of England. 19th round
“Arsenal” (London) – “Aston Villa” (Birmingham)
Where to watch: Setanta Sports
Disqualified: Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara (both Aston Villa)
Injured: Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori (both questionable), christian Mosquera, ben White, max Dauman – Tyrone Mings, Ross Barkley, Pau Torres
Arsenal – Aston Villa: bookmakers’ quotes
Arsenal
Mikel Arteta makes no secret: he wants every team that comes to the emirates to suffer. It is with this attitude that “Arsenal” approaches the home match against “Aston Villa”, having a clear goal – to take revenge for the defeat in the first round.
Three weeks ago, the leaders of the Premier League unexpectedly lost to Unai Emery’s team (0:1). Now, the Gunners have a chance to prove that that defeat was just a temporary setback.The Londoners are in excellent form, having won all five of their previous Premier League matches, and are determined to maintain their momentum.
However, the statistics of head-to-head encounters are not in favor of “Arsenal”.Moreover, in the last five head-to-head matches of the Premier League, “Arsenal” lost to “Aston Villa” three times (one win and one draw). If Unai Emery’s team wins again, it will complete the double over the Gunners for the third time in the last six seasons – after the 2020-2021 and 2023-2024 campaigns.
All this only fuels the intrigue before the match, which can considerably affect the further course of the championship fight.
Aston Villa
In the previous round, Unai Emery had to change the initial plan just in the course of the match. Aston Villa started the game against Chelsea in a 4-2-2-2 formation but looked helpless within an hour. however, the spaniard has already repeatedly proven that he is a coach who knows how to change the course of the game with point corrections. He does not stop at finding the weak points of the opponent – and this time his intuition worked flawlessly.Already at the start of the second half,the coach of “aston Villa” made a triple substitution,changed the scheme – and the game whent in a completely different direction.
And it’s definitely not just a fluke. 18 points won from losing positions this season – indicate a certain regularity. in Aston Villa, an indomitable character has been formed, and the reserve players at Unai Emery’s disposal are a real tool to influence the match.
This time, two figures became key. Amadou Onana added physicality and control in midfield, while Jadon Sancho, who came on with an obvious desire to prove his worth to the club that refused to sign him in the summer, brought a dramatic boost to the
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