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Official Arsenal team to face Aston Villa – just two changes and Ryan starts

Both Arsenal and Villa suffered defeats midweek, however, that is where the similarity ends because Dean Smith’s side deserved to lose to an in-form West Ham, whereas Arsenal was very unfortunate to be on the end of a 2-1 defeat away to Wolves.
The first half display by Arsenal against Wolves was probably the best first half they have had all season and a repeat of that today should be enough to see off Villa, however, they have to take their chances today, they cannot afford to be so wasteful against Premier League teams.

To a large extent, the team is picking itself these days because of the good form they are in but of course, there are forced changes today with David Luiz and Bernd Leno absent through suspension due to the red cards they picked up midweek.

This is the team that Mikel Arteta has gone with, let us know in the comments below what you think and whether you would have done anything differently.

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Tags arsenal team news Aston Villa v Arsenal

241 Comments

  3. They beat us last time m8!
    And their front 3 of Grealish Barkley Watkins who had us on toast are all starting!
    Be afraid.
    Be VERY afraid.

    1. I’m just worried about Watkins, because he could easily hold our CBs off in their previous meeting. Tierney is unfortunately still unfit, but I hope another great combination from Soares and Pepe

    2. You’re absolutely right about being afraid. The only way to keep villa on the back foot is for us to be constantly on the front foot. I would’ve preferred a fully offensive line up similar to what we have now but including Mari, Odegard and Martinelli in place of Gabriel, Xhaka and Pepe, respectively. Gabriel is way too rash, sometimes too cavalier and makes awful decisions in terms of passing, movement and placement. Watkins is good on and off the ball and very physically strong. Pepe will as usual play his own game ie running up his own arse, trying too much and not releasing the ball while giving very little defensively. If you’re a manager who always wants to hedge your bets, then Xhaka is your man. Always playing the safe 3 yard and sideways pass.

      I bet now I’ve said all that Pepe gets a hatrick, Xhaka scores a cracker and Gabby is a man mountain lol😅

        2. Kenya 001 I’m sure he’s talking about the same Gabriel that play as a center back for us. Have also been saying it I still don’t see anything special about that boy yet, he makes rash decision, he overlap too much and doesn’t really have much pace.

  4. That’s the strongest lineup we can put out there.
    I am happy to see some consistency In the lineup leading to better chemistry and in field understanding

  5. Both teams are strong. Would accept a draw just to get the Wolves game out of our system: Mentally I mean. Of course, prefer 3 points.

    This is going to be a test of character as much as ability.

    1. I have not recovered from that wolves game. I am still very angry. Incompetence is the middle name of the english referees. Arsenal has been very unlucky with poor officiating.

  6. Aubameyang, Martinelli, and Ødegaard are the substitutes I want to see….. I hope we win the game…. COYG!

  7. Odegaard should have started ESR wasn’t sharp last time out, options then to bring Martinelli and Auba on later with the Villa defence a little fatigued. ESR might need a break .

  9. Good line up

    Not Xhakas biggest fan but recently he looks seriously improved. He’s made more tackles over the last few games than I’ve ever seen him make.

    Hoping Gabriel can get back to early form, the after effects of Covid can really slow return to fitness.

    COYG

  10. Not sure what’s happening with Odegaard,need to get him playing soon otherwise what’s the point of a 6 month loan.

    Dennis Suarez 2.0 so far, hopefully that changes.

    1. The question is who can he currently replace in that starting lineup? I’m sure we’d see him sooner or later. I think he was brought just in case ESR got injured not to replace him entirely.

      1. I think the point is rotation to avoid ESR to getting injured/fatigued in the first place. Pointless having someone out of form on the bench to only play when we have no other option.

  11. The best line up we could possibly come up with although I won’t mind a Mari for a slightly rusty Gabriel but wish all the lads well. Ryan, make us proud. Revenge time. And I predict a 3-1 win for the Arsenal

  12. Good line up. I hate this Tierney’s situation. We can’t be fighting at this stage with our best players out.

  13. Must Xhaka and ESR always start games. I still wonder what Arteta learnt from Guardiola. Sometimes he uses Gundogan, Rodri and Debruyne. Sometimes Bernardo Silva, Gundogan and Debruyne, sometimes he uses Mahrez in midfield. Must Xhaka play all matches, why can’t he use Smith, Odeegard and Partey.

  14. Got bad feeling for today think villa will beat us hopefully I’m wrong and we play same as we did against wolves except we take our chances and keep 11 men on the pitch!!

    1. We just need to keep our heads

      We’ve rarely been outplayed this season. Almost all of our bad games have had red cards, own goals or harsh VAR decisions.

      I really don’t mind losing if we are genuinely outplayed by a better team on the day, it happens.

  16. Best team we could put out. MA is getting first 11 right now. Reckon MO will get starts against lesser teams. My main concern is MA timing and use of subs – he has shown this is still a weak area for him. Unlike when we were nose-diving, I’m more interested in performance than result. Would be nice to be lucky for a change though! Popcorn ready, curtains drawn, cat fed. Now, who’s the ref….

  17. Listening to a curtain sports station and they’re saying Martinez is the best keeper in the PL right now and we let the wrong keeper go. Hope he’s not MOTM after this game and our strikers do their job

    1. I think they’re right Sue. Not that its been on my mind but with todays game and hearing ‘that certain sports station ‘ just say that has put me on edge. Game not started yet and I’ve no finger nails left. Hmmmm, them toes are looking tasty lol.

      Good luck to all the lads

      1. How about not listening to the radio before a game? 😂
        I’m with you though, I have a nibble on matchday (fingers, not toes 😝)
        This could be a very long 90 minutes….

  20. Big test … we are in 10th possibly 12th if games in hand go against us … looks like a must win against a decent team

  27. Ollie Watkins lol.
    Either we buy him and make him worse,
    Or some other club buys him and gets 6 guaranteed points from us in the league.
    That’s how it goes with us.
    Not one player we’ve signed from the prem has done better under us.

      1. 😫 I don’t like our kit either, almost as bad as that green one we had the other season – we were mostly rubbish in it!!

  31. We are freaking cursed I tell you same thing every year. How can a club be soo unlucky.

    Incoming Cedric out, waste of space, out of place clown comments😜😜

    1. Yeah definitely….going to happen eventually when you played out of position.

      Much rather have Cedric RB and Bellerin left

  34. very long way to go….this is our new Arsenal, if we lose this game, forget about Europa League next next, mind you am not talking about champions league here.

    1. Winning the Eurpoa League has to be the priority, we arnt looking too shabby here…

      League table doesnt lie, where we are is where we should be based on perfomnces all season. Nice patch from xmas to last week, all hard work undone if we keep this up.

      Wolves have did the double over us now Villa look like doing the same. Not good enough Arsenal

  37. I don’t understand how these McGinn, Mings and Traore average players do well
    And why our on paper strong can’t perform

    3. Mings is one of the best central defenders in the PL, one we were going to buy while he was still at Ipswich.

  39. So if we finish outside Top10 & go out of Europa League early will Mikel still be in a job? If we play like this we will never win that Europa League this season…

    Need a big performance here got get back in it!! Backs against the wall again & again. All defensive errors too from defenders to keeper midweek.

  40. We’re going to see what the team is made of!
    The players on the pitch and on the bench should be able to score two, three or even four goals past villa considering time left after going behind. And if not we have a serious problem. Numerous players will need to be replaced.

  41. Same manager same result mates. Arteta is very ordinary that’s why all we have is good shape and hard work. The players need help.

  42. Id rather miss Saka up front and have him play as leftback. Cedric in the left is a definite no for me. Pepe on the right and Auba/Gabi on the left.

    This is a painful reminder to me that we made a huge blunder by not signing a backup to Tierney

  44. I like MA and support him. We’ve improved a lot of aspects under him.

    But the one thing thats been consistent under him has bern continuous unnecessary incidents whether its red cards, own goals or terrible mistakes.

    Cant blame him for individual incidents but overall the squad lacks focus and professionalism to go through games without these continuous issues.

  51. I said it against man utd that Partey need to improve his passing but some fans on here said I don’t know what I’m saying, his pass against wolves too wasn’t that good and now he’s doing it again.

    2. He’s on a different level. He draws players and needs teammates to run into space,the guys are moving around him enough.

      You can see he is waiting and waiting and waiting for better movement

        1. Odd thing is the two you mentioned have actually created more dangerous moments than him. Watch the game. Not the names.

  52. Holding looks clueless when he’s not playing besides Mari. Cant believe I’m saying this, but we really miss Mari. Gabriel looking rusty and completely different player than before his Covid layoff

    1. I bloody hope not but can see that happening also… alot of harder games to come! Should’ve kept winning with the last 2 games along with this one and up the table. Not to be this season for Arsenal, all our own defensive mistakes too & poor finishing at times.

  56. It should be said that the defence is far more solid and organised with Mari in it. Gabriel’s too shaky

    3. which game are u watching Gabi is our best ball playing CB and has been good today, its our attack that needs to start scoring goals.

    2. The team was prepared to play with a double pivot, which are Xhaka and Partey in 4-2-3-1. I bet they aren’t prepared to play with a lone DM in 4-3-3. We also need a left-footed player on the left wing, so Pepe should stay since Tierney is injured

      1. I am well aware of your obsession with the double pivot yes.

        Well personally I think playing with 2 defensive minded players when you are losing can backfire. Surely we need to either push 1 higher or make a change.

        1. But he is right. The team is drilled to play that way. Wasnt our shift to 4-3-3 disastrous with losses to Villa and Leicester after an average succes with 3-4-3? Our team is too limited to be proficient in diverse systems.

    3. Have you seen how Partey is playing? Remove Xhaka and they have a straight route to goal. Xhaka is the better of the two midfielders so far, Pepe is the more threatening of the two wide forwards so far.
      What I’d do is take off Cedric, bring on another CB and push Bellerin into a more attacking position. Push Saka to LWB , Pepe and ESR in a number 10 position behind Laca. Such an overload would cause Villa issues.

        1. Are you actually watching the game? We’re getting more ball progression from Xhaka, and we’re getting more goal threat from Pepe. There’s also a lot more penetration in Xhaka passes. Partey is doing well carrying the ball, but the types of intricate passes he’s choosing aren’t working yet. The best he might do is draw a foul.

          1. The problem is clueless xhaka with his endless sideways passes to nowhere is getting more of the ball … don’t you see that are you watching the game ? … Pepe is clueless in front of goal so he’s no threat to their defence

      2. Partey is z player thst doesn’t want to play to feet, he wants to play into space as all good players do. The movement around him is poor thats the issues. Currently we play to feet with a man marking tight and then pass backwards, safe but negative play.

        If players move he’ll find them in the space behind their man markers, the way all top teams play. We just not used to it.

        1. Everyone likes to play into space when the space is there. We’re being forced to play into feet, because Villa are really deep.

    4. Xhaka played better than Partey in this game, seems you have personal issues with the guy, he already a mainstay in this team and has been doing fine since his red, if anyone need to buckle up in this game it should be ESR and partey

      1. @adajim Thanks for the laugh, you always cheer me up

        I never once said Xhaka is playing badly or deserves to be subbed did I? Someone has to come off if we put another attacker on and I certainly wouldn’t want Xhakz to play DM alone because of him pace thats all

        Where do I have z personal issue with him, please point it out?

  59. Same problem with arteta’s style of football .. lack of creativity translates in to limited threats in front of goal … not sure how long it takes fans to wake up to this guys weaknesses … learnt his football under moyes and it shows

  61. If Arteta wants Smith-Rowe to move to the left side, he’d better use the left-footed Odegaard instead. Smith-Rowe is more dangerous in the half space on the right wing

    1. Agree. Pepe also never passes to ESR which i noticed. Don’t know why he’s messed with the chemistry esr and Saka were creating. He’s limiting esr to simple passes to Pepe or finding xhaka in the middle

  62. I think we need Martinelli. And Smith Rowe has been clueless, so Ödegaard in for him.

    Cedric showed us in 2minutes why he’s £3m player. He literally gave the ball to Traore.

    Great save by Ryan on that 1on1.

  63. Not sure why people are upset with cb performances today. Goal is down to Cedric and besides for that they only had one other change. Again it’s our useless attack. Lacazette making awful decisions ruining our best counter of the game. Pepe very selfish today, don’t know why he started. The chances of him being good for over two games is close to zero. Arteta keeps trying to make Pepe into a high quality player when he doesn’t have it in him. We need to get ESR on the ball more and work the ball out wide more. Get Saka in space out wide which we haven’t really seen.

    1. Cedric and Gabriel.

      Holding has been solid though, thinks he having food game.

      Gabriel, meh, maybe needs more game time but is worse of the two for sure.

      1. He’s been fine. Villa have hardly had many chances and don’t remember Gabriel struggling during that half. I’d be looking at our attack and wondering why our only shot on target it from a free kick. Another 45 minutes of one footed Pepe hitting villa defenders every attack is not something I look forward to.

  64. Oh and just tackle Grealish as much as you can and hard as you can. That will take him out of the game and frustrate him.

    And target Kozra and Nakamba who are on yellows.

  66. No matter how well we can play and our improvements in alot of areas one thing is constant…

    Under MA we always astupid mistake/incident just around the corner. He really needs to address our inability to focus for a full 90 mins

    2. What can he do about Cedric playing a pass too short? Does a professional who has been in league for years need to be told to be alert and ready from the first minute? Mikel is responsible for the predictable attack play though.

      1. By that logic the a manager can never be held responsible for anything, ever….as he’s not on the pitch.

        I’m not blaming MA, relax! I like MA

        I’m saying it’s been a theme under his tenure and our focus needs addressing….do you disagree?

        1. No that’s not the logic I’m using. The logic I’m using is the manager cannot control everything that happens on the pitch.

  67. The same thing Martinez did at the Emirates for Villa second goal was the same thing he did now for Aston villla goal, quick decision, the way he released that ball quick to start that counter attack that leads to that goal is what we are missing from our goalkeepers. As a keeper you need to know when to go long and good short. Like I said before the match, Gabriel and holding partnership doesn’t feel me with confidence and I will still keep saying it I think holding Is an average defender. Our best center back is still Luiz. This Villa team are not playing anything spectacular so let’s see if we can still get something from this game.

    1. You should know that when Xhaka becomes our best midfielder or player on the field then we don’t have a team at all

    2. I agree but Xhaka rarely creates game changing moments.

      He’s fairly consistent I agree and hss played well but can he create a moment to get us back into the game?

  69. Arteta is an assistant coach and it shows more and more. He has no tactical acumen. ESR looking average today. Pepe is again looking like a baby giraffe on ice and poor Laca has had no service

    1. Only when we start passing the ball forward very quickly and ambitions about our movements. That’s what wins you games not by prediction

  71. Pepe being Pepe,promising something every fifth game. The rest of the time he makes average look good.

    1. Was always a good way to slow the game down when winning 1-0… frustrates opponents then hit them on a counterattack. Always liked Martinez, said he should’ve stayed tbh.

  73. One shot on target ,(a tame free kick )is just not good enough .
    They have been leaking goals recently and here we are passing it around without a care in the world

  74. With auba as Striker we better not play that passing around thing. Fast and direct play with those 3 speedsters will get us a goal.

  76. It looks like teams have figured out our 4 2 3 1 formation and are becoming good at neutralizing it. Saka has been neutralized today.. ESR and Cedric and Partey not having as good a game as they would like and Bellerin is misplacing some passes… I hope we come good with one good moment..

  78. Arsenal is looking like a small team in this game.The confidence with which they are passing around our defence arsenal is looking like a small team

  81. A pass can be perfectly straight and well played from our midfield but can still be a bad pass if it’s played 2 seconds later than it should’ve been played. Do fans not understand this?

  91. I did say I wouldn’t post for a while but for me why is it always arsenal who buy injury prone players. As for the game very poor for me but not unexpected as we are just too slow with the ball and will probably get what we deserve from the game but for once I dont blame arteta as you cant teach heart and desire but not over yet

      2. Another view is that Spanish league is very inferior to English league and that’s why may be Partey getting injured

    2. Yes, Perry, very pedestrian (even though Crouch said pedantic 😂)
      Really cheesed off, first half crap, whatever we try, we just don’t pull it off.. and all we’ll hear about for the next year is how we sold the wrong gk…

      #OneOfThoseDays..don’t even look like scoring!!

      1. Clearly we over pass every game and aubameyang hasn’t been in the game and that isn’t great. No blame to anyone but if we are honest we are a bang average mid table side and if we were to win the Europa league I would be so surprised. Didn’t really enjoy it as I thought we didn’t show enough character and I would say bellerin should never be captain because it obviously affects his performance. Shame that we have sunk so low as to be a mid table side and to have no direction and I wont criticise anyone butbut if anyone take a 1% positive from that game please tell as it would make me feel better

  94. Partey injured again and has been poor again… what is it at Arsenal where good players get worse when they come here or injured half their contract..

    3. I like him too so far, but still hope we find a homegrown backup option. Homegrown spots are important as we’ve seen this season. Would be a waste if we give this spot to a senior non-homegrown player IMO

  96. These are the combinations we should be playing. Nice combination between 3 players on the left flank, overlapping leftback and a nice cutback to the edge of the box. Impossible without a leftfooted leftback. Another example why we needed a backup option behind Tierney. Next game play Saka there please. I know we need him in attack, but we need him even more as a leftback atm..

    Should have been a goal tho by Odegaard

    1. Anytime saka goes over to the LW…its all aimless crosses till game ends….happened over and over early on in the season till arteta moved him to RW..then he cuts in and shoots more often..

      Tierney on the other hands wud bust in and find a low cross ….don’t even want to mention arteta anymore, I just watch and pray nowadays

  99. So our left side was gaining tons of momentum, and creating dangerous plays. Arteta thinks it’s best to throw in Willian and move Pepe to the right ????? It doesn’t make sense!

    1. I agree. Same goes for Partey. He just returned from injury. I feel he needed a rest and now he’s probably out injured again.

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