Arsenal have broken away from the pack at the top of the Premier League table and after their superb 4-3 win over Luton Town, the Gunners now have a two-point gap at the top of the table.
Arsenal will head to Villa Park this weekend to take on Aston Villa, a team who are third on the table after beating Manchester City on their home turf in midweek.
The Gunners are currently sitting at the top of the table with 34 points but Villa are just two points behind them which means a win at the weekend and The Villans have the chance to grab that top spot. Arsenal are undefeated in 19 of their last 21 away matches against Aston Villa but the home side have not tasted defeat in six matches across all competitions.
Unai Emery is cooking something special at Aston Villa and the Spanish manager would love to pick up a win over his former employers. The North London side will go into Saturday’s game as the favourites but after their 1-0 over City, Villa will most certainly be eyeing all three points.
Arsenal’s team news and injuries:
Thankfully, there are no fresh injuries for the Gunners and the five players who missed the Luton Town game will be absent this weekend as well.
The likes of Thomas Partey, Fabio Vieira and Jurrien Timber are all long-term absentees and as per the latest updates, Tomiyasu’s calf problem will keep him out until the new year.
Aaron Ramsdale is pushing for a start after Raya’s hiccups in midweek but we don’t think Mikel Arteta is going to use the England international.
Jakub Kiwior played at left-back vs Luton but Zinchenko will come back into the starting lineup for this one. Apart from this, the manager is not going to make any more changes to his defensive line.
Kai Havertz has scored three goals in his previous four appearances but the German international is likely to be rested to avoid an unexpected injury. Arteta could bring Jorginho back into the side while resting Havertz.
The front three for Arsenal scored two and assisted two goals in midweek so it will be unfair to drop anyone. If the Arsenal manager has rotation on his mind then Leandro Trossard is going to come into the first XI, replacing Gabriel Martinelli.
Trossard played around 30 minutes in midweek so he is more than capable of playing out on the left wing but what the Arsenal manager will have to think is whether he wants to break up his usual forward line against an in-form team like Aston Villa.
Arsenal predicted line up vs Aston Villa:
Predicted starting line up(4-3-3): Raya; Zinchenko, Gabriel, William Saliba, White; Declan Rice, Jorginho/Havertz, Odegaard; Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli/Trossard.
