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It is a fascinating and intriguing late kick-off in the Premier League on Saturday as Unai Emery gears his Aston Villa side up to face former club Arsenal with both sides beginning the season with victories on the opening day.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 24th August, 2024 - UK – 5:30pm / US ET – 12:30pm / US PT – 9:30am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – USA Network, Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – Fubo, Sling Blue, DirecTV Stream
ASTON VILLA PREVIEW: VILLAINS OF THE TITLE RACE
After an extremely busy summer transfer window, it was one of Aston Villa’s potential departures from the summer that was their hero at the London Stadium as they defeated West Ham United by two goals to one in the capital.
It was an excellent start from the visitors when new signing Amadou Onana notched a header from a corner early on and Villa really should have extended their lead before a controversial penalty saw them pegged back to 1-1 before half-time. The second-half was a lot more even but then Jhon Duran, who has reportedly been the subject of rejected bids from West Ham of all clubs, that came off the bench to win the game for Villa late on.
ARSENAL PREVIEW: GUNNING FOR MORE
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal have been involved in a Premier League title race in each of the last two seasons before dodgy results in April have cost them – a 2-0 loss to Villa that completed Aston Villa’s double over the Gunners last season – being one of those dodgy results but they are back again and looking to go one better.
They started their season with an eventually comfortable 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium last weekend. Bukayo Saka was back to being in immense form with an excellent cross headed in by Kai Havertz in the first-half before the England international scored himself to complete Arsenal’s win late in the second-half.
ASTON VILLA TEAM NEWS: POTENTIALLY UNCHANGED VILLAINS
The big question for Unai Emery to answer is whether Jhon Duran comes in and starts the encounter at Villa Park after he scored the winner last weekend with Ollie Watkins also appearing quite rusty for the first 70 or so minutes.
Long-term absentees Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara remain unavailable for this weekend with back-up goalkeeper Robin Olsen doubtful to make the bench.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins
UNAVAILABLE: Mings (Injured), Kamara (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Olsen (Injured)
ARSENAL TEAM NEWS: UNCHANGED GUNNERS
Mikel Arteta has said he is not yet sure as to whether Netherlands international defender Jurrien Timber will be fit to start this weekend but heaped praise on Oleksandr Zinchenko so the Ukrainian is expected to remain in the eleven ahead of Riccardo Calafiori.
The Gunners still have a couple of defensive injuries with both Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney remaining unavailable with Fabio Vieira also still a doubt.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): David Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli
UNAVAILABLE: Tomiyasu (Injured), Tierney (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Vieira (Injured)
ASTON VILLA VS ARSENAL PREDICTION
Last season, as mentioned, Aston Villa were able to defeat Arsenal both home and away. Unai Emery, with his success in cup competitions, has proven himself to be a master at being able to subdue opposition teams with a pragmatic and well thought out set of gameplans. Arsenal were victims of that attention to detail last season and will now have to show that they can find a way. A ‘chess match’ of a football game is often a tedious cliché but that may well be what is in store at Villa Park.
ASTON VILLA VS ARSENAL TIP: UNDER 2.5 GOALS