Aston Villa host Arsenal in the Premier League this evening. The referee is Michael Oliver and the kick-off is at 17:30. Ahead of the match, we have taken a look at some of the views from Arsenal Talk, including a view from the home end.
sakalacaxhaka: “I think we’ll put on a performance on Saturday
Villa did us over last year despite us being the better team in both games, and you just know how Arteta will be using the results from last season as fuel for the players, they’ll go there with their chests pumped out, I hope Martinez also is targeted, he is nowhere near the GK people think he is, great shot stopper but given way too much respect for his actual ability, we need to be all over him on corners
I want to see Timber starting, I’ll be concerned if Zinchenko is in the team
I’d also be keen to play Jesus/Trossard over Martinelli, he looks like he’s still got some way to go to get up to speed, and having him as an impact sub could be a game changer, Jesus has looked sharp in pre-season and will put their full-backs on the back foot if played out wide, Havertz has to start up top.”
Stevo the Villan: “Really hard to predict this one I think.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this season. I don’t know why. We’ve strengthened the squad, the players are rested, we have one of the best managers in the league. But something inside me tells me things won’t go so well. I think it’s 30 years of being a Villa fan and getting used to good things not happening to us.
This game in particular feels like a loss. You guys are the better team and it’s hard to tell just where we are this season due to not bedding in the new signings yet.
We were good at the weekend, and our new signings all looked great when they came on. But they all played off the bench so it’s hard to tell what team we’ll go for in this.
If I had to bet on it I’d say we’ll start with the same team as last week which was
———Martinez
Cash, Konsa, Pau, Digne
Bailey, Onana, Tielemans, McGinn
——————Rogers
——-Watkins
Possible changes being Maatsen in for Digne because he looked impressive off the bench. And Cash looked like he might have picked up a knock so maybe we’ll see Konsa at RB and Carlos in at CB.
Watkins was miles off it against West Ham as he hadn’t played a minute of pre-season, so hoping to see more from him.
Onana had an excellent debut, he and Tielemans look great in the middle
It’ll be a really interesting game. Not expecting a win but then again I didn’t expect a win last season and look what happened.
Good luck and hope it’s a good game.”
SA Gunner: ” I’d expect to see Kai occupy the box more often than dropping into midfield. You saw how Kai combined with Saka in the final third against Wolves.
Kai would drop into midfield as well, because building a situational fouth midfielder is how we play.
I’d expect GJ to drop into midfield to help with build-up, interchanging with Ødegaard and dropping next to Rice. I think that should be a more solid setup and allow us to push Villa back for longer.”