Match Result: Aston Villa v Arsenal
Aston Villa and Arsenal meet in a lunchtime clash on Saturday 6 December, with the bookies not expecting the Gunners to have things easy in the Midlands. Mikel Arteta's side might be riding high at the top of the table, although the London side have dropped points in three away matches. The latest of these came last Sunday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Chelsea despite the Blues having Moises Caicedo sent off in the first half.
The other aberrations on the road for Arsenal have come when losing 1-0 at Anfield and being held to a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light. There have been a number of injuries sustained and the league leaders were missing Gabriel and William Saliba at the Bridge, although it's possible that they'll both be back in the line-up here.
The Gunners have won four times on the road this season and nine of their thirteen top-flight encounters have ended in a victory. We know all about their attacking quality, with Bukayo Saka in the form of his life, with Viktor Gyokeres potentially leading the line in this clash and likely to cause problems for a back line who have been rock solid at home.
Aston Villa could move very close to Arsenal with a victory here and it's not completely out of the question. Eyebrows were raised when the Villans made a sluggish start to the campaign although they're back on track and particularly on home soil. Crazily enough, they failed to win any of their first six clashes, although they have since won an incredible eleven games across thirteen in all competitions.
The only defeats were a surprise Champions League reverse at the hands of Go Ahead Eagles and a 2-0 reverse at Anfield. Defensively, they are looking rock solid and the performance level of former Gunner Emi Martinez might well give them a chance of getting a positive result here.
Goals Under/Over
It's hardly a surprise that Under 2.5 Goals is trading at odds-on. At the time of writing, punters can get 1.72 that there are two goals or less scored at Villa Park. Both of these teams have proven themselves strong defensively this season. Arsenal have shipped just seven across thirteen games, even if the clean sheets have dried up a little recently. Sunderland, Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea have all found a way past their tight defence.
Much might depend on whether Gabriel and William Saliba are fit to play at the back, although we might also see the Villans run a tight ship. Across seven home games, Unai Emery's side have only conceded five times and it's a settled defence who know their jobs. Ezri Konsa might well be lining up for England at the World Cup, with Matty Cash and Lucas Digne both capable of nullifying the wide threat of the opposition. We think Under 2.5 Goals is a likely outcome.
BTTS
There's nothing to separate the BTTS Yes and BTTS No prices for this Saturday lunchtime encounter. The argument for the former is that Arsenal have only drawn a blank in one of their thirteen top-flight games this season. That failure to score at Anfield remains the only time that the Gunners couldn't find the net, with twenty-five goals notched across their thirteen Premier League games.
Arsenal have also been adept at finding the net in the Champions League. They recently put three goals past Bayern Munich and that came after scoring four in the north London derby. However, this is a tough ask to score goals when you consider the quality of Aston Villa's defence and they have a strong recent track record.
The Villans have shut out Wolves, Bournemouth and Manchester City their past three home matches in the Premier League. Since losing 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace, they have looked defensively mean, with Fulham and Burnley only managing to score consolation goals at Villa Park and the other top-flight sides struggling to find the net.
However, we do think that they might be susceptible to Arsenal, especially from set pieces. The 1-1 scoreline is definitely a runner and that could see a BTTS Yes outcome.
First Goalscorer
A year ago and you might have been putting forward Ollie Watkins as a plausible goalscorer option. Now the England hopeful has been drawing blanks for the majority of the campaign. However, Morgan Rogers adds plenty of attacking thrust and perhaps he could be the player capable of finding the net against Arsenal. We know that he'll want to have a say in set piece matters.
Donyell Malen was given the nod in a recent clash against Wolves and the former Borussia Dortmund player has scored eight goals for the Villans this term. He's part of the Netherlands squad and could well be selected ahead of Watkins when it comes to this encounter.
Arsenal have plenty of options and Mikel Merino notched his tenth of the campaign when scoring the equaliser at Stamford Bridge. Few anticipated that the former Sociedad player would have such an impact in front of goal this term, although he scored a brace at Slavia Prague in the Champions League and was also on target for Spain with a double against Bulgaria.