Aston Villa host Arsenal on Saturday evening in a crunch Premier League clash, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up looks.
Villa will go in search of a 15th consecutive home league win this weekend, as we try to follow up a brilliant performance in midweek in our win over Manchester City.
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This promises to be another difficult test though given the quality of this Arsenal side, and so Emery will be demanding another big shift from his players to replicate the level of our display last time out.
The Villa boss didn’t give much away in his pre-match press conference in terms of team news, as he’s giving his players as much rest and as big a chance as possible to recover and get ready for another big game, particularly given the hectic schedule this month.
Nevertheless, a strong Villa XI was expected, and as seen in the club’s tweet below to confirm our line-up, that is certainly what Emery has gone for in this showdown.
It’s an unchanged side from the one that secured all three points against Manchester City in midweek, with Emiliano Martinez starting between the posts, with a backline consisting of Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne in front of him.
Our midfield will see Leon Bailey, Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn try to dominate and dictate for us, just as they did so brilliantly last time out, with Youri Tielemans expected to play more advanced behind Ollie Watkins in the final third.
As we saw on Wednesday night, there’s a great balance in this Villa side in both phases of the game, and so it’s hoped that we can replicate the same level of energy, discipline and quality to pick up another positive result in what will be another difficult test.
The win over Man City would undoubtedly have taken a lot out of the players, but Emery is evidently content with their fitness levels heading into this one.
There is one notable absentee on the bench though, with Robin Olsen not included in the squad. That in turn sees Filip Marschall step up and offer cover behind Martinez.
Representing Aston Villa! 👊 pic.twitter.com/Y4F7u1dpz3
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 9, 2023
