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Official Arsenal line up to face Aston Villa and live stream update

Arsenal faces Aston Villa at the Emirates this afternoon fresh from a convincing 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League Thursday evening.

Villa is on a two-game winless streak in the Premier League having drawn 0-0 with West Ham last time out and losing away to Crystal Palace previous to that.

Arsenal is on a three-game winless streak in the league having lost to Liverpool 3-1 and drawing with Tottenham and Watford 2-2 respectively.

So, it is clear both teams need a positive result today, a draw will suit the visitors but Arsenal need to win, anything less will heap the pressure on Unai Emery despite the midweek win over Frankfurt.

Here s the official line-up

So, the only change from the Watford game is Saka in for Nelson, a very attacking line-up, let’s hope they defend better today.

The game kicks off at 16.30 UK time.

Links will be put in the comments where to watch the game live and free so keep checking in.

Also, if you go to the official Arsenal website you will be able to get live commentary text.

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188 Comments

    1. Although I would imagine Villa will be licking their lips what with Xhaka, Luiz, AMN, and Sokratis all starting.

      Cannot wait to see what Saka can do, and he’ll give us balance on the LW.

      1. Yes, the defense has the usual clowns, and for some reason Emery hates Chambers, and I didn’t expect him to start him. Still, for a match at Emirates against a newly promoted side, there is no excuse to not get the result.

    2. Emery does not know what he is doing. Same players who cost us points still get into the first team. Chambers should play ahead of Sokratis. How can Xhaka and Guendouzi play ahead of Torrera? Guendouzi is not good enough to be in the first team. A substitute at best. Emery is the problem with Arsenal football club. Move AMN to midfield. He is not a defender. Play either Chambers or Mustafi at right back.

    1. It’s not Arsenal vs Aston Villa !! It’s Arsenal front 3 verses Arsenal back 3. Am not even excited that Man utd lost bcz am not sure of my Arsenal. Xka is better than Nelson and willock.
      Wish all the best to the team.

    1. I like the attacking fullback selection. I’m sure one of those attacking fullbacks will create an assist for us

      Better than using Chambers and Mustafi as an RB, because the team will play at home

      1. The right back position has been the the team weakness in recent times. Chambers is a better option than AMN. AMN loses concentration and composure a times.

  5. Great selection on the front four in 4-2-3-1 formation. Emery finally uses his common sense

    That line-up will obliterate Aston Villa

    1. I really don’t get it. I could understand if Ozil gives way to Saka after how Saka played against Frankfurt. Only that it doesn’t seem fair to me as it’s kind of easy for Emery to drop him from the starting XI eventhough Ozil didn’t play badly last week. On the other hand some other players look untouchable no matter how badly they perform.

  6. We either appreciate UE for starting saka despite how he’ll perform today or let’s not talk about it at all

  7. Nice attack but still the same delusional suicidal set of defenders.
    Won’t be able to see the game, will have to check out the highlights and full game later.
    Nice to see at least his brain fart didn’t affect his decision on Saka at least.
    I guess right now, and after the game.
    A Saka Vs Nelson debate will come up hot after today’s game.
    Goodluck to Saka

  8. Holding still doesnt even make the bench.Sokratis back to continue his spectacularly effective partnership with Luiz.Xhaka and Guendouzi left to protect the back four..so we can predict another 20 plus efforts on the Arsenal goal,again,this afternoon.
    Citeh illustrated perfectly what a piss poor side Watford really are…and I expect Villa to illustrate,once again,what a piss poor coach Arsenal have in Unai Emery…

      1. I expect Arsenal to struggle because of Emery’s mediocrity…with a top-level clear thinking coach a correctly selected Arsenal team should steam roller the likes of Villa at home.

  13. I hope those old men at the back have learnt their lessons. Oh Leno too. Martinez was not sticking to playing out from the back always. He allowed situation to dictate. 4 – 0 Arsenal.

  15. Surprise surprise!!! Xhaka, Luiz & Sokratis in the starting XI. The rested Ozil doesn’t start, once again, so I guess the picture is very clear now.

    1. Strange decision to leave Ozil out seeing how well he started to look with Ceballos last week .
      I would like to see him go in January so we dont keep getting the same moronic fans blaming him for the everything ,it’s obvious Emery has his little favourites and Ozil isn’t one of them .
      The managers a clown plain and simple .

      1. I concur, Dan Kit, I concur. The lad doesn’t deserve the treatment he gets from his coach and a section of the fans. He is better off elsewhere, because a form player like him needs time on the pitch and not given chances in fits and starts but expected to create goals.

  16. This team select is still poor. I am okay with the front three but I who have still prefer ozil playing instead of Saka. Also why must this man start Gwen and Xhaka together? These players are of the same quality and pattern. Slow and cant tackle. Why not use one of them with torrerria sitting behind. And this man needs to trust chambers. He cant be any worst that these two calamities.

    I would have love this selection

    Leno

    Nile Chambers Luis/Soktratis Kolasinic

    Torrerria

    Xhaka/Gwen cabellos

    Pepe Aubu Ozil/Saka

    COACH: F. LUNGBERG

  21. If Saka gives another good impression I will be over the moon.

    Pepe should kick start his season from today.

    Xhaka should better repeat the good performance he had against Frankfurt.

    Sokratis & Luiz should remain focused and responsible.

    All things at the back goes well we are in for a tremendous win.

  22. Nothing we say here will affect Emery and his team selection. It’s upto him and him alone. I just hope he learns he should start torreira if he goes with Xhaka, before it’s too late. Xhaka guendouzi doesn’t make sense by any stretch of imagination. Emery is just too bland I guess. Not a speck of creativity whatsoever. Let’s hope for a 3 point.

  23. What is Emery drinking?
    Dropping Torreira on the bench again,Xhaka in the lineup once again, I don’t think Emery really understand what he was doing. Our defence line is full of comic actors, don’t see us keeping a clean sheet today.

  25. So resting Ozil was a lie. Okay.

    Difficult test for Saka. If he dribbles less and passes more he’ll do okay, though.

    This week the one to make a huge mistake is either Kolasinac, AMN, or Leno as I think Xhaka, Luiz, and Sokratis will be on their toes for a match or two.

  27. Guendouzi is so overrated its unbelievable. Go and look at Reine-Adelaide and Ismael Bennacer. These are two former youth Arsenal players who would walk into the starting eleven today.

  28. OT:biased or not? Gary Neville on sky”old is going to need 4 or 5 transfers windows and hundreds of millions…”really

    2. Hate to say it but we got no tactics for defence or midfield by the looks of it and we are being outplayed outfought every week now just look at how good we made Watford look and thank god we didnt have City this week cause id say they wouldve got double.

  39. That was nearly 2 nil to Villa. I’m outa here now before I use so many profanities about this useless …,,,,,,,

    1. Take a breather bro…I’m sure there’s enough time to curse and use profanity.
      Wait till after the game.
      Meanwhile Firmino just scored while I’m typing this. 2-0

  41. I mentioned to a fellow Gooner before the game that I wouldn’t
    be surprised in the least if Arsenal bottled yet another easy
    win @ home today.

    If this scoreline holds its time for Freddy to take over, sadly
    whatever hes attempting to accomplish is falling on deaf ears.

    Arsenal fans deserve better

    1. this team won’t even beat United without Rashford. Guarantee you we put in another disaster performance against that bad United team. Because we are just as terrible even with better players. Emery is clueless, and not improving us. We look AWFUL when on paper we shouldn’t be.

  43. Emery is confused as he’ll. Is it that he is out of ideas or the players do not want to follow his instructions or the players are not good enough? For me the players are good to get top 4 at least but the manager isn’t motivating them enough. with this system Messi Ronald and van dyk will be average here. Why is there no pressure from the midfield?

    Get this Eery out before its too late… We need a swift change in this club

  44. Kolasinac such a useless player. Take it to the byline no end product. Can’t even use his physique to his advantage.

      1. That right. He has Torreira at disposal, a player who has a bit of every type of quality, tackling, passing and shooting even and he is on the bench.

        Saka is the best player thus far. Outshiningg 70m signing lol.

  45. Wot a team selection. Just brilliant. So much talent………my arse. The same back 4 as last week my goodness is that man stupid? What does it take to make him see that 70% of his selection is dung.

  46. Too many losers in the team. The only good players I’ve seen this season are Torreira and Lacazette. These players give everything when playing.

  49. Am I the only one that’s starting to think we have already drawed or lost the game before kick-off? I used to be excited to watch arsenal play, now I have no hope for anything. Im thinking I might stop watching football all together, as I won’t be watching any other team. Horrible defending, no pressing, gifting goals to sh1t teams, even attacking we look crap. And we got a red card, awesome, niles is a shit defender!!!

    1. It’s like they don’t even want top 4. It was handed to us last year and we still didn’t take it. Now again same thing happening with Tottenham, Manu and Chelsea and we still lose with them.

      What a disgrace.

  50. We appointed the wrong guy to take over from Wenger. We can still correct this by appointing Allegri ASAP. no need to wait till end of the season. Emery does not know what he is doing

    1. Alegri is no different from him. Equally pragmatic. He has no style of play. Don’t be decieved by his performance in Italy. Rate him interms of champions league performance. He ain’t any better. I better have Arteta

      1. Allegri may be pragmatic, but he won juve the league over and over. U can’t be bad and win serie A 8 times in a row. He got to two Champions League finals in 3 years. We don’t know what to expect from Arteta because of his lack of experience. Allegri is by far better than Emery. We should go for him.

        1. Pointless discussion. Allegri would not come to a team with so many mediocre players.

          Why do you think he is jobless right now? Do you think no one wants him? Coaches like him don’t want the 6th best squad in the league.

  51. So much for Emery knows best.He is nothing of any of his fans claims to be.Right now he is the worst coach in the league and he should be sacked

  52. He has be sacked after he inevitably blows the United match. Poor manager. Rather Freddie take over rest of the season than watch this dross.

  54. Emery is the problem we have at Arsenal. This same old Arsenal tag looks like it won’t be leaving us anytime soon. Emery doesn’t know his first eleven still.

  55. The manager and the team do not have a clue. The distance between the back four and the midfield is at time ridiculous. AMN is totally US at full back. Emery should go this week.

  59. Truth be told Maitland Niles career at arsenal is as good as dead, all those excuses he’s making about not being a defender is rubbish.
    If he wants to play as a midfielder he should go elsewhere

  60. Oh boy, all the meltdown I’m seeing on here??? Sue!! I hope you avoided this game?
    Can’t imagine how you and Pat are feeling right now

      1. Aaaaw Pat, I’m sort about how you feel.
        I decided I wasn’t gon watch the game when I saw the defense, I’m watching the Liverpool game instead and I’m following our game on here?? so far with the meltdowns I ain’t switching from this to our game no I wont?
        To think Spurs, United all lost, Chelsea are losing

  64. #emeryout!

    The guy is obviously not getting the response from the team.

    Ditch him before it’s too late! Should have concentrated heavily on defence this year and failed!!!!

  66. The line-up and the formation are great, but the defenders blew it up again

    Either Sokratis or Luiz must be replaced. These two shouldn’t play together

    And Maitland-Niles seemed disinterested in this match. If he doesn’t want to play as an RB, he must be replaced

    1. Xhaka and Guendouzi were the problem. Every single team runs through our midfield like it doesnt exist. Luiz and Sokratis havent been espescially bad and we cannot expect them to defend every attack when they are left on their own to do it and Villa has committed numbers forward. Emery is a clueless coach who is just as bad as Wengers last years here. Maybe worse. Pepe dribbling in circles still also baffles my mind. Guy needs to get his head right because Saka looked better than him. What an awful performance. And every game this season has been just as awful.

        1. No matter what the level of opposition, they will get a ton of opportunities to score against us. That is more than just our CB’s being bad. Wont be shocked if Nottingham Forest knock us out midweek. Any team is capable of producing at least 2-3 easy chances against us.

      2. Wingers and full back are more problem. They don’t defend enough and wingers don’t press. Welbeck was a good player for us, we should’ve kept him.

  67. No way in the world Xhaka can keep being picked. Not only has he displayed since game 1 that he doesn’t have the facts-twitch muscles to match the pace of the league, that lack of ability can’t be used to protect Luiz and Sokratis. Must be Torreira.
    Emery making the same mistake Arsenal made by continuing to pick Arteta.

    AMN being ruined at RB. Promote a natural academy kid already or pay to get a replacement. Try AMN centrally where he’s best, or let him move on and grow.

    No stones/confidence/leadership/presence without my man Laca on the field.

    Emery needs to go.

  68. So it appears that Aston Villa @ the Emirates is a much tougher
    fixture than Frankfurt on the road in EL? LOL

    Chambers, Mustafi both played well in Germany yet this clown
    insists on bringing AMN and Socratis back into the first team and
    guess what happens.

    Dude needs to be fired ASAFP, this disgraceful

  69. A few weeks ago Declan told me to bugger off for not celebrating the away win at Newcastle. Go figure… Utter utter crap

  70. There is nothing wrong with this team. With the right coach, we have decent players. Few weeks ago, I was watching Walcott’s first few years at Arsenal and I couldn’t believe my eyes. What I mean is, coaches can make it break a player and at the moment, this idiot is breaking slot of Arsenal players.

    To be honest, he is the worst manager in the premier League. A team lost at 8-0 came from 2-0 and drew with us.

    We can’t be that bad. You can even see from the players attitude that they are not happy. They just don’t want to fight for this general period.

    1. Emery is simply not good enough. He has his favourite players. He should have been sacked after that Chelsea defeat in the Europa League final

  72. 1 down and niles sent off. It’s the same old story. IMHO, Emery is over tinkering the team.
    While other bosses make 2/3or 4 changes,his excessive changes make for less fluency.
    Furthermore thegunners overpassing give AV time to regroup.
    Unless the gunners score quickly they could lose 2-0

  73. Jesus christ this manager has to go over £100m and he has managed to make the team worse hire back wenger this shockingly bad

  74. 1-0 down and AMN sent off. Guess that Emery will play Ozil right away so that he could use Ozil as the scapegoat.

  76. Niles will get blame to not be a LB… Crazy to not see Chambers who us a defender and did okay on Franfort.

    Mustafi & Luiz worked fine as well.. Emery is simply insane, to pick team …

    Fresh Nelson should be on, not Saka, later on in game… No sense at all. Where is Ozil?

  77. Shit midfield, these midfield players doesn’t even get in to starting eleven of top 8 clubs in this league

  78. There is a reason Liverpool and Man City are miles ahead of the other teams on terms of quality and points. They have two of best Managers in the world. Emery should be a manager at a team like Everton. We are arsenal Football club for goodness sake. We used to dominate teams like Aston Villa and Watford in those days. How did we end up with a Mediocre Manager? How does Guendouzi start a match ahead of Torrera? AMN was never a defender. How does Xhaka and Guendouzi start matches ahead of Ozil. It has the same Emery that benched great players like Pastore and Lucas Moura at PSG. We are a mess. Teams like Aston Villa should be hammered like 4:0
    Emery continues to drag us to mediocrity and Europa league. We all need to wake up. It has to be now. He has to go. Enrique and Allegri are available

  79. Niles’s acting before being shown the red card is as bad as his defending. Too bad he will serve his one game ban in Carabao.

    Now he takes Saka off for Chambers.

  80. Poor first half. Flat and struggled to face a bank of 5 in front of the 4. I dont understand why ozil isn’t in as you need someone to unlock the wall. But the team is made of 11 and almost all of them have been flat. None of the midfield speak the same language, the different is 5 different nationalities, I think communication is a factor. Gendouzi Ceballos dont speak English… but this just adds onto the failure of whatever plan we have, and the sending off just compounds the point of no idea from the start.

    Football against us is obvious. Teams sit and win the ball and break. It’s in these transitions we concede goals, after first losing the ball. Why cant we be better structured to deal with this and hit the opponents when we win the ball back. Pepe has only won 1 dual in the first half…shows we dont have space to play. Unia needs to under this if he is to have a career as arsenal manager.

    I dont expect us to win today, but a lost is just disappointing. Bring on Willock for Gendouzi and Ozil for Saka and we might have a chance. Then Nelson for Xhaka to play almost like a winger from full back. Take a risk now, we are losing…

  81. Remember a manager being goals ahead in a cl tie for one of the worlds most expensive teams only to throw it away during the 2nd leg and stand watching having no clue what to do….?
    Emery when managing PSG.

    When we got him I thought oh sh1t but when thought he may prove me wrong hmm not so far.
    I like pepe he was unplayable for lille from what I saw but ti be honest what we needed to spend that money on is a mf.
    Weve gone from one of the best mf playing teams to not having one at all.
    So embarrassing where are the leaders?
    And at home to Villa!!

  83. @Haa559
    Give AMN a break for ages now hes been made a scapegoat in a position that is specialist and often exposed just because we sold jenkinson.
    No way in the world should he be playing RB and its testiment to him hes even doing half a job.
    Emery is a fool!

  85. We are 11th on PL table AT half Time, 10 players… Next we at MU, we’ll lose of course… QpR is 12th with 8 points as us. Newcastle is 17th with 5 points, a game away…

  88. Aubameyang giving pepe the penalty like he did to lacazette last season shows how much he wants to build chemistry and confidence with his teammates.

  95. Luiz is a total disaster and a wrong purchase. Whoever decided to buy him must be fired immediately

    When Luiz plays, we are usually conceded like we don’t have defender at all

    And replace Leno with Martinez. Leno needs to be reminded that the first GK spot is not guaranteed for him

  97. We dont defend as a team.. Xhaka is a muppet!

    We must be the most brainless team in the land cos we dont learn sh*t..

  98. People say Guendozouzi is not good enough, well maybe he isn’t but he is drving the whole team by himself that 20 year old.

  99. Not all bad. Work tommorow where I can work for 8 hours and earn after tax around £50. Whilst I spend my Sunday watching these overpaid bunch of halfwits and major numbnuts UE.

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