Aston Villa will travel to London looking to end a woeful run of form when they face high-flying Arsenal.
Venue: Emirates Stadium (London)
Key Statistics
Arsenal have won their last five Premier League games.
They are now the only remaining Premier League (PL) side maintaining a 100% this season.
The hosts have lost just one of their last eight league games played on a Wednesday (W6, D1).
The Gunners scored 3+ goals in three of their last six PL games.
Aston Villa have lost their last three away league games.
They have won just three of their last 14 games (D3, L8).
The visitors have failed to win nine of their last ten PL Wednesday games (D3, L6), but six of the last seven saw both teams score.
They have won four times at the Emirates in the PL (D2, L7), a winning record bettered only by City and Chelsea.
Head to head
In 54 Premier League meetings between both teams, Arsenal have won 29 times while Aston Villa have eleven wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Arsenal: W-W-W-W-W
Aston Villa: L-W-L-W-L
Arsenal
Arsenal will look to continue their winning start to the Premier League season when they welcome struggling Aston Villa to the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners are the only team that has won all their games for the season after a 2-1 comeback win over Fulham at the Emirates last weekend.
As a result, they come into this tie seated atop the Premier League table, with a two points cushion ahead of the rest of the league.
The last time they had a start as good as they have enjoyed was 18 years ago. This has led to them being labelled as title contenders. But Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has downplayed any title talk by stating that his men are “in a long, long marathon.”
Meanwhile, only twice before have Arsenal begun with four straight league wins, the last of which was the unprecedented unbeaten season of 2003/04, when they drew the fifth game.
It may take some time for this group of players to draw serious comparisons to the ‘Invincibles’, but given their solid recent games, it should be easy for them to win this game.
Possible Arsenal starting line-up
Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, Gabriel, William Saliba, Kieran Tierney; Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny; Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus.
Injured: Reiss Nelson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Aston Villa
It will become the tale of two young managers when Steven Gerrard takes his Villa side to London this Wednesday. While Arteta is flying high, Gerrard and his boys are struggling to win games.
The former Liverpool player made a decent start to life in Aston Villa when he took over last season. But this season, things have not been as rosy for Gerrard whose side have won just one of their opening league games this season.
Their last outing was a 1-0 loss to a West Ham United side that had not won a game this season before coming to Villa Park last weekend. Boos were ringing around Villa Park after the loss with calls for Gerrard to be sacked also increasing in recent weeks.
With Manchester City lying in wait following this tough trip, it could be a defining week in the dugout for Gerrard who will be desperate to get a morale-boosting win in this game. Given that only Manchester City and Chelsea have a better record than Aston Villa at the Emirates (W4, D2, L7), the ‘Villans’ will fancy their chances of posting another positive result when they play on Wednesday.
Possible Aston Villa starting line-up
Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Calum Chambers, Lucas Digne; John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara; Ollie Watkins, Philippe Coutinho, Danny Ings.
Injured: Diego Carlos
Doubtful: Tyrone Mings
Suspended: None
Prediction
Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa
