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

Arsenal travel to Villa Park to play Aston Villa on Saturday evening looking to maintain their push for a top four spot.

We head into the game in buoyant mood having secured a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League on Wednesday night with a 2-0 victory over Montpellier, and that result comes after beating Tottenham 5-2 last weekend, so it’s been a positive week to be a Gooner.

The home side will be hoping for a win to drag themselves out of the bottom three but history isn’t on their side, as the Villains haven’t beaten us at home in the league in their last 13 attempts.

Paul Lambert’s men have lost their last two games against Manchester United and Manchester City so will be desperate to get back to winning ways this weekend.

Team News

Arsene Wenger confirmed that Theo Walcott remains out with a shoulder injury picked up in the win over Spurs. Andre Santos is also out with a stomach problem but Kieran Gibbs and Gervinho are both back in contention after returning from injury to be on the bench against Montpellier.

Abou Diaby is still four weeks away from fitness but Tomas Rosicky is due back on Monday.

Villa will once again be without the services of Darren Bent and Charles N’Zogbia for the game as they continue to recover from their injuries. Defender Richard Dunne is back in training but wont be considered this weekend. Chris Herd and Joe Bennett are also still out.

Likely Line-ups

I hope Arsene sticks with the same line-up that started in midweek. The back four looked more settled so it would be wise to keep the unit together for a tricky away tie. However, don’t be surprised if the boss brings Gibbs and Gervinho back into to get some fresh legs in the side.

Predicted Score

Villa have been poor this season and have only won two of their last 18 Premier League games, so we should really be taking all three points from this one if we have aspirations of finishing in the top four. While we haven’t hit top gear yet, there have been signs in recent games that the fluidity is coming back into our game and I fancy us to secure the win on Saturday. Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal.  COYG!

What would your team be and what’s your score prediction? Get involved in the comments section.