Arsenal vs Aston Villa: Team News, Likely Line-ups & Predicted Score

Arsenal welcome Aston Villa to the Emirates on Saturday looking to maintain their excellent recent run of form and cement their grip on third place.

After a near perfect midweek round of fixtures, whereby we beat Everton 1-0 away, Tottenham drew at home to Stoke 1-1, Chelsea lost 2-1 to City and Liverpool lost 3-2 to QPR, we now find ourselves in third place.

Chelsea and Tottenham play each other at Stamford Bridge in the early Saturday kick off, so we’re guaranteed that at least one side will be dropping points again this weekend, giving us the perfect opportunity to tighten our grip on not only a top-four finish, but third.

Arsenal are now the country’s in-form team having won our last six league games. Villa come to town in very different form, having won just one of their last six.

Team News

Arsenal head in to the game with no fresh injury concerns following the win at Goodison Park. Abou Diaby is closing in on a recall after coming through 60 minutes for the reserves on Tuesday, but Wenger has confirmed he’ll need one more game for the reserves before being considered for first team action.

Andre Santos is also hoping for a start after making the bench for our last two games. But it’s likely Arsene will stick with the settled back four of Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen and Gibbs, who have not lost in the eight games they have played together, winning seven.

Francis Coquelin, Per Mertesacker and midfielder Jack Wilshere remain on the sidelines, while i hope to see Chamberlain back in the starting eleven after missing out in recent weeks. Gervinho is also pushing for a recall.

Ciaran Clarke is close to returning for Villa but Saturday is likely to come too soon for him. Charles n’Zogbia faces a late fitness test but is likely to start. Darren Bent, Richard Dunne and Fabian Delph are all still out.

Likely Line-ups

Predicted Score

Aston Villa have a decent recent record at the Emirates, winning two and losing just one of their last five games there. But they are struggling for goals in recent weeks without the injured Bent, and Arsenal are bang in form.

The Villians will always pose a threat, especially from corners, but i predict the Gunners to keep firing and make it seven wins on the bounce. Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa.

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