Unai Emery is back, and the Gunners will face their former manager on Saturday at Villa Park, but the team can not let that be their primary focus.
Arsenal has won only one point out of the last nine available in their Premier League matches, so a good team effort and a win are what’s important v Aston Villa.
Mikel Arteta made these statements in his pre-Villa press conference earlier today, “You want to get maximum points and we didn’t in the last three games. We have to look at ourselves. We have to be more efficient; with the amount of play and situations we have made, we haven’t generated enough points and that’s down to us. We have to improve that because we want to win more games. That’s what we want to do. The schedule is a bit unusual, but is what it is. The players are highly motivated for tomorrow’s game because we want to perform well and win the game.” [Courtesy of Arsenal.com]
Thomas Party and Emile Smith Rowe will be game day decisions on whether or not they will be available, and I believe it’s time for Leandro Trossard to get a start. How about in the #9 spot?
So, with that said, here’s my predicted starting XI on Saturday…
[4-3-3]
Martinelli, Trossard, Saka
Jorginho, Odegaard, Xhaka
Zinchenko, Gabriel, Saliba, White
Ramsdale
Predicted final score: Aston Villa 0 – ARSENAL 2
COYG!
Gunner1953










Mikel Arteta said on Friday Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are all in contention to be in the squad for Saturday’s match.
According to Graeme Bailey of TEAMtalk, Arsenal has intensified their interest in Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams as a top summer priority.
Fabrizio Romano is reporting Calum McFarlane will be the Chelsea interim manager until the end of this season.
Arsenal Women have confirmed Manu Zinsberger will leave the club at the end of this season. The Austrian goalkeeper has totaled 51 cleans sheets in 143 appearances for the Gunners.



Stat of the Day: David Rays has made 53 saves and had 15 cleans sheets in 33 appearances this season for Arsenal.
American movie star Anne Hathaway on the Gunners title chances, “They better. I believe in Arsenal.”
Gabriel Magalhaes, “We need to be strong on Sunday, We are at this club to play these kind of games.”

Ten Premier League managers have been sacked this season, including three at Nottingham Forest, and two each at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.





