Arsenal will travel to Villa Park to face Aston Villa on Saturday in the Premier League, hoping to make it seven consecutive wins across all competitions.
The Gunners exhibited character and fight to complete a remarkable comeback in the 4-3 victory over Luton Town in the Premier League, with Declan Rice scoring a last-gasp winner to help the team retain the top spot in the table. Having played 15 games so far, Mikel Arteta’s team now have 36 points under their belt.
However, the North London side will face an uphill task against Aston Villa, who beat Manchester City 1-0 in the league in midweek to make it 14 consecutive home wins.
Arsenal Team News
Arsenal were dealt a big blow earlier this week when they learnt that Takehiro Tomiyasu will be out for the foreseeable future with a calf injury. The Japanese defender joins Fabio Vieira, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe and Jurrien Timber on the sidelines.
Predicted Arsenal lineup vs Aston Villa (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper
David Raya was guilty of two costly errors leading to Luton goals in midweek, but Mikel Arteta is set to back the Spaniard to redeem himself against Aston Villa.
Defence
Lining up in a 4-3-3 formation, the defensive quartet of Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Oleksandr Zinchenko will protect Raya. White, Saliba and Gabriel will retain their spots in defence in the Arsenal lineup, with Zinchenko the only likely change to come in for Jakub Kiwior at left-back.
Given Aston Villa’s home form and attacking prowess, the Gunners have to be defensively first class to keep a clean sheet on Saturday.
Midfield
Declan Rice, who scored the last-gasp winner at Luton, will be tasked with keeping things tidy from the No.6 role in the Arsenal lineup. Acting as a sitter, he will provide the base for Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz to flourish as the No.8s.
Odegaard will drop deep at times to pull the strings and link up play. Havertz, who scored in the 4-3 win over Luton, will be hoping to continue his fine form of late.
Jorginho has been preferred in midfield against the big guns till now but Arteta might opt for Havertz to potentially keep the excellent Villa midfielders on the backfoot.
Attack
Arteta could retain the front three that started against Luton, meaning Gabriel Jesus will lead the attack again, flanked by Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka in the Arsenal lineup. The trio will look to combine well in the final third and create problems for the Villa defence.
Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah could be introduced in the second half as per the situation of the game at Villa Park.
