Aston Villa vs Arsenal: Preview, Preferred Line-up & Predicted Score

Arsenal travel to Birmingham to face Aston Villa on Wednesday night looking to bounce back from the weekend’s defeat to Man City. The boys put in a great performance at the Etihad and gave them a run for their money and deserved something from the game, so plenty of positives came from the game.

Villa are not in great form and were pitiful on Sunday against Liverpool. They barely mustered a shot on goal and the Reds could have got 5 with ease. The villains weakest point this season surprisingly has been from set pieces, conceded 37% of their goals from dead ball situations. Fortunately for them set pieces are hardly Arsenal’s strong point!

There was bad news for Arsenal on the injury front with Kieran Gibbs suffering a set back in his recovery from a hernia operation. Arsene Wenger has hoped the 22-year-old would be fit to face Villa, but the set back combined with Johan Djourou’s injury means we’ll have to reshuffle once again at the back. Alex Song is also suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season.

Prefered Line-up

With the problems at the back, i would like to see young Miquel given an opportunity at left back. I have a horrible feeling Arsene will go with ‘experience’ and play Squillaci in the middle with Vermaelen on the left though. The midfield will lose Song to suspension so hopefully Frimpong will be drafted in, but i would also like to see Ramsey given a breather and Benayoun given a rare start. Rambo has looked tired in recent weeks and needs rested after being out for so long with such a serious injury, plus Benayoun has always looked decent when he’s come on from the bench and deserves a start.

Szczesny

Koscielny     Mertesacker     Vermaelen     Miquel

Frimpong       Arteta

Walcott           Benayoun         Gervinho

Van Persie

Predicted Score

Villa Park is never usually an easy place to go, but if they play anything like they did against Liverpool at the weekend then this will be a comfortable win for The Arsenal. I can’t see Alex Mcleish allowing his side to come out with such a poor attitude as they did on Sunday though, so i expect a tougher test than the Scouse had, but we’ll have more than enough to come through. 2-0 to Arsenal.