On Saturday evening, the West Midlands will witness a clash of Arsenal managers from different eras as the Gunners travel to face Unai Emery’s Aston Villa in a Premier League matchup.
Both teams have earned three points from their opening fixtures. Aston Villa secured a 2-1 victory over West Ham United, while Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal defeated
Wolverhampton Wanderers with a 2-0 scoreline.
Earlier in the transfer window, Jhon Duran nearly joined West Ham, having hinted at the move on social media. However, the transfer fell through, and the Colombian striker remains with Aston Villa, where he played a crucial role in their recent win.
Duran saw an hour of action at the London
Stadium last weekend, where a Lucas Paqueta penalty equalized Amadou Onana’s opener. Despite missed chances by Emery’s team, Duran sealed the win for Villa with a decisive goal 11 minutes before the final whistle.
The young forward’s celebration, pointing at the London Stadium turf in front of Villa fans, seemed to signal his commitment to his current team, effectively ending Villa’s four-match winless streak in the Premier League.
Given the number of opportunities Villa created, they should have won by a larger margin without Duran’s late goal.
Nevertheless, the Lions are now close to achieving back-to-back wins at the start of a Premier League season for only the fourth time.
In 2023, Emery’s side had an impressive run, winning 15 consecutive home games.
While their home form has fluctuated since then, they have maintained a strong scoring record, netting at least twice in their last eight matches at Villa Park.
Right-back Matty Cash was substituted eight minutes before the conclusion of Villa’s victory over West Ham. It seemed as though Cash had suffered a blow to the upper part of his leg, but Emery did not address the defender’s condition following the match.
Still, reserve right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic is waiting in the wings, but if Cash is left out, Emery may choose to go with the more seasoned player and shift Ezri Konsa to right-back, freeing up Diego Carlos to return to the center of defense amid rumors of his departure.
Declan Rice’s cramping just minutes before the conclusion of Arsenal’s victory over
Wolves also necessitated a late change to the starting lineup, but the English midfielder is anticipated to start at Villa Park.
While Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran
Tierney (hamstring) are still many weeks away from full-back recovery, Fabio (hip) could also be ready for the journey to the West Midlands.
Havertz, who recently scored and assisted in Wolves’ triumph, is hoping to put some personal baggage behind him on Saturday.
In his seven Premier League encounters with Villa, the former Chelsea striker has never scored or assisted a teammate- his poorest record against any English top division team.
Speaking of clubs scoring more than once in front of their own supporters, Arsenal hosted Wolves in their opening encounter of 2024-25. Prior to this, they had scored against Wolves in 33 straight games; Kai Havertz’s nod in Bukayo Saka’s ball made it 34.
The old Arsenal looked to be back for a short while, though, as Arteta’s club first failed to capitalize on that narrow lead and let Gary O’Neil’s team back into the game.
However, in the second half, Havertz and Saka connected again, with the latter past Jose Sa at his near post.
Even if some of Arteta’s players could still be getting over their summertime hangover, Arsenal has and will continue to roll to more comfortable victories than those from last weekend. Additionally, by holding Wolves at bay, they extended their winning streak in the Premier League to an impressive seven games.
Arsenal, who also hold the title of Premier League away-day experts, have amassed an incredible 25 points from a possible 27 in their nine away top-flight games in 2024, conceding only three goals and maintaining seven clean sheets.
But Villa was the only club to beat Arsenal in the Premier League last season, triumphing 1-0 at home before an unexpected 2-0 victory at the Emirates, so Emery, the former manager of the Gunners, has the visitors covered in more ways than
one.