Arsenal will play host to Aston Villa this evening, with neither side arriving in top form.
The Gunners have suffered consecutive draws against Brighton and Crystal Palace so far in October, but had appeared to be coming into top gear prior to that when earning three league wins in a row.
Two of those came against potential relegation candidates however, and came in the shape of narrow 1-0 victories, while the other was a dominant 3-1 win in the North London Derby against Spurs, which had given us hope that things were about to pop.
Unfortunately, we have since come back down to earth by our most recent performances, with both Brighton and Palace arguably more deserving of the win than we were.
Aston Villa come into this with even worse form, enduring two consecutive losses of late, with their most recent being extremely painful having taken a 2-0 lead over Wolves with just over 20 minutes remaining on the clock, to then suffer three goals from the 80th minute onwards to leave empty-handed.
While it is easy to say that Villa have the worst form considering they lost both of their last two, their performances in both of those outings shouldn’t be underestimated, and our side will definitely need to
I’m sure Arteta is fully aware that his side will find a win by playing as they did on Monday, while today’s away side will believe that they have every chance of coming to the Emirates and getting a win after seeing our side struggle of late.
Patrick
Aston Villa is beatable if Arteta plays to the strength of his team. Arteta must have learnt a few things from last season after they did double on us. Tomi should be tasked to support B White because he is not good in the air and Watkins could target him. Lokonga ball distribution is good but he lacks starminal and also slow at times just like Pathey. It might be OK to partner AMN with Pathey in 2 DM pivot. ANM is the quicker version of Elneny in my opinion. If M Odegard and S Roe can do well in Midfield we should be fine. Personally I would prefer Matinelli to Saka because of his direct approach but I don’t see Arteta benching his golden Boy for him.
Overall, I am optimistic Arsenal should win 2:1 or 3:2. I don’t see us losing the game.
He doesn’t play to the strengths of his team….2 quick egs
Leno told to play from the back
Pepe played on RW
Arteta might play with 4-2-3-1 or a three-CB formation, after watching how Wolves beat Villa. Arteta tends to use a formation that’s similar to the opposition’s, so a three-CB formation is also a possibility
I’m sure Arteta watched how Italy played in Euro and he should’ve seen how Chiellini passed the ball like a DM. Magalhaes used to pass like that too, in some games last season
So we don’t need to force Odegaard or Saka to play on the left side while Xhaka is injured, since Magalhaes’ positional interchange skills are quite good
Regardless of which system is deployed by Arteta, Odegaard and Pepe should start on the bench.
Defo Odegaard dropped agreed
Pepe might have to start if saka is injured or rested .
But we know Arteta likes Odegaard so not a chance .
If Saka is fit to play, Pepe can be benched. But Odegaard had better start the game on the right side
Yes Odegard does well on the right side. Saka is also better in Pep position. All these remains opinion as Arteta most times think otherwise. Looking forward to his lineup in less an hour
We are at home, we have spent more money and have more talented players. No Excuses tonight 3-1