Arsenal Hit Road to Take on Aston Villa | OneFootball

When Arsenal travel to Villa Park on Saturday, they will undoubtedly face one of their sternest tests so far this season against a resurgent Aston Villa. Having started the season with five straight losses, Unai Emery’s side have now only lost two matches of their last 14 across all competitions, with their last defeat coming at the hands of struggling Liverpool back at the start of November.

Manager and former club meet again, injuries abound and a big three points is up for grabs at the top of the table. Heading into the weekend, both teams are in top form and this will be a hard-fought clash to stay ahead of the pack.

Arsenal will need to dig deep again

There is no doubt that a win this weekend in the run up to Christmas would be a massive for the league leaders. Three points against Villa would put them eight points clear of Manchester City before they face Sunderland, a team who have managed to take at least a point off every team sitting above them in the league.

To establish this cushion ahead of ‘winnable’ (with a massive pinch of salt) games against Wolves and Everton in the league, Club Brugge in the Champions League and Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup would afford Arteta some breathing room to rest some players.

Declan Rice is top of that list, having played the most minutes of any Arsenal outfield player this season and starting every game this season, except one. There was some concern when he was taken off against Brentford in midweek, but following Arteta’s press conference on Friday, the feeling coming out of Arsenal’s training ground was that he’ll be fit to start.

A Battered Backline

With defender Christhian Mosquera sustaining an ankle injury against Brentford, which could see him sidelined for at least six weeks, Arteta will be hoping to count on the return of William Saliba, who has all but recovered from a knock in training, to boost his back line. Keeping his cards predictably close to his chest when asked about the Frenchman’s return, Arteta was positive it would be “a matter of days” until he would be back in action.

Should he not be available, Arteta would likely move Ben White, who gave a man-of-the-match performance when given a start against Brentford, into the right back role and Jurriën Timber in the middle.

Although it seems like Arsenal’s back line can’t take many more injury hits, to have these options shows Arteta has done well to build the squad depth he has been seeking for many years. If his side can withstand Aston Villa, he may be able to further show it off and rotate some players who are in serious need of some rest in the weeks ahead.

Aston Villa flying high

If you’d asked any Aston Villa fan a month into the season where they would be in December, not even the most optimistic would have placed their team in third. Having watched their side fail to score a single goal in their opening four games, they would have been hard-pushed to guess they would go on a streak, winning nine of their last 10 league games.

Now they’re lurking six points behind Arsenal and could close that gap to three. They showed grit to come back from two goals down at Brighton in midweek to win on a night Ollie Watkins scored twice.

As Emery takes on his former side, his team are not without their own injuries. The major headline this week came when first-choice keeper, and former Arsenal man, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez withdrew from the Brighton clash after picking up an injury in the warm-up.

“We will train this afternoon. He didn’t train yesterday, but it is very important for him how the passing hours are to feel better,” Emery told the press on Friday.

“Until the last moment, I don’t know if he will be available or not,” he added.

Deputy Marco Bizot stepped in against Brighton and made some crucial saves following an early error which led to their first goal, and he may be called upon again if the Argentinian is not available again.

They will also remain without one-time Arsenal target Tyrone Mings at the heart of their defense and Ross Barkley, who’s sidelined with a knee sprain.

All to play for

This is a fixture that has been very tight over the last few seasons. Villa have a good record taking points off Arsenal, but this Arteta team have overcome tough challenges this season. Both sides might be happy with a draw, but three points here could make an important difference to both their campaigns – before they play each other again in three weeks.