Match Report: Aston Villa Vs Arsenal, Premier League
As we travel to Villa Park on Saturday at noon, we want to snap our three-game losing streak in the Premier League. We also hope to regain the top place before Manchester City's game that afternoon. Having changed his club's fortunes since joining from Villarreal, the former Gunners manager Unai Emery will take on us for the first time in Premier League play. His side has quickly climbed the ladder to a position of relative safety. The seven goals they gave up in back-to-back losses to Leicester City and Manchester City, which were as much as they had given up in their previous seven league games combined, put an end to their fine record.
Emery to the rescue
Only two victories came from Villa's first nine league games this year, and with his team barely above the relegation zone, Steven Gerrard was fired in October.Emery took over in his place, and the team's performance improved right away. It all started with an impressive 3-1 home victory over Manchester United, which sparked a run of five victories over their final seven games before the World Cup break that propelled them to mid-table, where they currently sit in 11th place.Alex Moreno, a left defender from Real Betis, and Jhon Duran, a young striker from Colombia, both joined the team in January. Danny Ings, the most well-known departure, went to Chicago Fire.
What the managers say
"We must aim to leave the bottom—we are not there," said Emery, "the target is the same as before the match against Leicester and after the two games we lost." We are attempting to gain ground on other teams in order to get points and move up the leaderboard. "Their last matches will not impact their confidence, how they are going or performing, or their prospects of winning the title this year," said Arsene Wenger of Arsenal.Arteta: "He's a wonderful manager, and I appreciate what he's achieved at each club and the success he's had. "Emery will always be a very difficult task. "Maximum points are what you want, but we didn't get them in the previous three games." We must examine ourselves and become more productive given the quantity of plays and scenarios we have created. "We haven't accumulated enough points, and that's on us. We need to change that if we want to continue winning games."
Team news
After missing the game on Wednesday, Thomas Partey was added to our injured list. It is uncertain if he will be able to travel with us to Birmingham because both he and Emile Smith-Rowe will be evaluated on Friday. Both Gabriel Jesus and Mohamed Elneny will be excluded as they continue their individual knee injuries' recovery. Tyrone Mings missed last week's match against Manchester City due to a thigh injury, but he will be added to the team following this week's training. Villa will be hoping he makes a full recovery given they have only won one of the 12 league games since the defender joined the team in 2019. Moreover, Bertrand Traore and back-up keeper Robin Olsen need to be accessible.Diego Carlos, though, has only recently resumed training after suffering an Achilles rupture in August, making him a long-term injury casualty.
Facts and statistics
From July 2020 to February 2021, Aston Villa defeated us three times in a row in the Premier League; however, they have already dropped their past three encounters with us. They haven't dropped consecutive games at Villa Park since April of last year, when they fell 4-2 to Leicester in their final home league game. The first 15 minutes of games have seen nine of Villa's 34 league goals surrendered this season, which is a league-high number and percentage (26 percent). Yet in this time (8/26), the Villains have also scored a league-high 31 percent of their goals.
For the first time since August 2018, when he was playing for Brentford in the Championship, Ollie Watkins has scored in three straight league games. For the first time in the top four categories of English football, he will try to score in four straight league games. More clean sheets have been recorded by Aaron Ramsdale this season than by any other goalkeeper in the Premier League (seven). In fact, Jens Lehmann from 2003–04 was the last goalkeeper to record more shutouts for us on the road in a single league season (8). Simon Hooper was given the opportunity to supervise one of our games for the first time in October's 5-0 triumph over Nottingham Forest. He has reserved more players than anyone but Paul Tierney.division this semester. Also, he officiated Villa's 1-1 draw with Manchester City earlier this season. In fact, the Villans have gone four games without losing under Hooper's watch, dating back to December 2019.
