Aston Villa welcome Arsenal this weekend for an enticing early-season encounter between two top teams.
The Gunners are looking to finally win the Premier League title after going close last season, though two defeats to Villa and former manager Unai Emery cost them big time.
Mikel Arteta will hope that his side can take the lessons from those defeats and turn things around against the Villans.
Meanwhile, Emery‘s men are now one of the best teams in the top-flight and will prove another serious test for Arsenal.
Villa are set to compete in the Champions League this year after finishing fourth last season, but before all that starts, they have a chance to send a message to the rest of the league by getting a result here.
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Certainly, it’s all set up to be a fascinating game between two excellent sides.
Aston Villa vs Arsenal: Scintillating Saka
After an incredibly busy season and summer for Bukayo Saka, there were concerns he wouldn’t be quite ready to hit the ground running.
But despite barely featuring in pre-season after helping England reach the Euro 2024 final, the winger started the 2-0 win over Wolves and picked up exactly where he left off.
Saka was instrumental in the opening-day victory, setting up Kai Havertz’s goal with a sublime cross from the right.
He then scored the second as Havertz fed him in the box, and he jinked onto his left and whipped a vicious shot in at the near post.
Bar his goal and assist, Saka was extremely sharp throughout and looks raring to go this season.
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- Aston Villa did the double over Arsenal last season, accounting for 40% of the Gunners’ Premier League defeats (2/5). They’ve beaten Arsenal in three consecutive Premier League meetings twice before – November 1993 and February 2021.
- Arsenal have won 14 away Premier League games against Aston Villa, with those 14 wins at Villa Park their joint most at a single away venue in the competition (also 14 at Selhurst Park).
- Aston Villa have won five of their last nine Premier League meetings with Arsenal (L4), keeping a clean sheet each time. It’s as many wins as they’d managed in their previous 46 against the Gunners (D14 L27).
Aston Villa vs Arsenal: Date and how to follow
This Premier League game is set to take place on Saturday, August 24.
Kick-off at Villa Park is scheduled for 5:30pm.
The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League.
Sky Go customers will be able to tune in via their laptops and mobile devices.
Alternatively, fans can tune in via NOW TV, with options starting from £14.99 for a one-day pass, £26 per month for a year and £34.99 for a rolling monthly contract.
talkSPORT will have updates throughout the afternoon, and talkSPORT.com will have a live blog.
To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
- Arsenal have scored 98 Premier League goals against Aston Villa, only netting more against Everton (124), West Ham (109) and Tottenham (105). Only Liverpool and Manchester United (5 opponents each) have netted 100+ Premier League goals against more different sides.
- Aston Villa are looking to win their opening two Premier League matches in a season for a fourth time, also doing so in 1995-96, 1999-00 and 2020-21.
- Arsenal have won eight of their nine Premier League away games so far in 2024 (D1), scoring 28 goals, conceding three and keeping seven clean sheets. Indeed, the Gunners have kept 21 away clean sheets over the last two seasons (10 in 2022-23, 11 in 2023-24), more than they had in the four previous campaigns combined (20).
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Aston Villa vs Arsenal: Team news
Villa are still without Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara after they suffered ACL injuries last year, but Emi Buendia is fully fit after overcoming his own similar injury.
New signings Samuel Illing-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea were left out of Villa’s matchday squad for their 2-1 win over West Ham, so it remains to be seen if they get a chance here.
Emery is also likely to have a choice to make upfront after Jhon Duran scored the winner from off the bench in place of Ollie Watkins, who managed just 60 minutes.
For the visitors, Takehiro Tomiyasu is out with a knee injury and he joins Fabio Vieira and Kieran Tierney on the sidelines.
But in better news for Arteta, he has Jurrien Timber fully fit, while new man Riccardo Calafiori will also be itching to start.
If either man does come into the defence, Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to be the one to miss out.
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- Aston Villa are the only side to beat Arsenal in the Premier League in 2024, winning 2-0 in April. The Gunners have won 17 of 19 games this calendar year (D1 L1); in Football League history, the most wins by a side in their first 20 matches in a year is 18, won by Liverpool in 1982 and Man City in both 2019 and 2021.
- Since February 17 when Arsenal beat Burnley 5-0, no player in the Premier League has more goals and assists combined than Kai Havertz (10 goals, 7 assists). However, Havertz is yet to score or assist in seven games against Aston Villa, the most he has faced an opponent without doing so.
- Among all Premier League players with 5+ goals, Aston Villa’s Jhon Durán has the second-best minutes per goal ratio (six goals, one every 103 mins), behind only Erling Haaland (one every 85 mins). Five of his six goals have been as a sub (83%), the second-highest ratio by a player in Premier League history (min. 5 goals), behind Matt Derbyshire, who scored nine of his 10 goals as a sub.
- Bukayo Saka has been on the winning side in 99 of his 171 Premier League games for Arsenal. Victory here will see him become the fourth player to win 100 in the competition before turning 23 after Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fàbregas and Phil Foden.
Aston Villa vs Arsenal: What has been said?
Amadou Onana enjoyed an excellent debut for Villa after completing a £50 million move from Everton earlier this summer.
The Belgian opened the scoring from a corner and broke up numerous West Ham attacks and Emery is excited by what he’s seen.
He said: “There is still lots of work to do and his potential, it is big.
“We need to do a process with him to exploit that potential.
“It is about identifying quickly how we want to play with him and how he dominates the position he is playing.
“He is very mature to learn as soon as possible everything tactically.”
