Aston Villa face Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday evening, and here’s how Unai Emery’s starting line-up looks for the encounter at Villa Park.
Villa will be looking to follow up our impressive win over West Ham Utd in our season opener last weekend, but it promises to be a difficult challenge against the Gunners.
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Emery confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that he didn’t have any new injury concerns, albeit both Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara remain sidelined, but the duo are expected to return to group training next month in what will be a huge double boost.
However, for this particular showdown, the expectation was that the Villa boss would name an unchanged side from last time out, provided everyone was available, and as per the club’s tweet below, Emery has gone with exactly that as it’s the same squad that faced the Hammers a week ago.
After coming off late on and appearing to be holding his hamstring, Matty Cash wasn’t seen in training this week shared by the club on social media. However, in an important boost to keep a settled backline in place, he is named in the starting XI alongside Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne, ahead of Emiliano Martinez between the posts.
Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans will hope to continue to build what looks to be an impressive partnership in the midfield pivot, while Leon Bailey, John McGinn and Morgan Rogers will provide support behind Ollie Watkins in the final third.
Given it’s an unchanged squad, Villa once again have a strong bench with crucial options available to Emery to change the game if required, and it’s hoped that they can deliver in a similar fashion to last weekend after making a decisive impact.
Despite suggesting that Enzo Barrenechea would be included in the matchday squad for this one, the Argentine midfielder hasn’t been able to force his way into the group, but his time will no doubt come and he’ll get the chance to impress as the season progresses.
Nevertheless, it’s a pivotal boost in itself that Villa are going with the same line-up, as it gives us the opportunity to continue to build cohesion and rhythm with the same structure and personnel, and so it’s hoped that is the foundation for another strong performance and a positive result as we look to make it two wins in two to start the new campaign.
Your Aston Villa squad for our home opener. 👊👊#AVLARS || #UpTheVilla pic.twitter.com/l5SR9R6BgA
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 24, 2024
