Aston Villa vs Arsenal promises action with intensity
In the second gameweek of the English Premier League, Aston Villa will host Arsenal in front of 42,000 passionate supporters at Villa Park. This Saturday’s clash between these two clubs promises to be full of action, featuring two sides that showed consistency throughout last season.
Both teams are coming off wins in their opening matches. Arsenal comfortably beat Wolves 2-0, with Havertz and Saka both scoring and assisting each other. Villa were also victorious in their first match, winning away at West Ham after Jhon Duran netted a late winner eleven minutes from time.
Last season, Villa managed to take all six points from Arsenal, beating them both home and away. Arsenal will be looking to change that this time after strengthening their squad. Italian defender Calafiori is yet to make his Premier League debut, and against a high-tempo and spirited Villa side, this might be his moment to set foot on English soil. Arsenal will surely spend the week working on how to contain the threats posed by Ollie Watkins, Amadou Onana, and Leon Bailey.
Both teams are attack-minded. Last season, Arsenal entertained fans with classy attacking football from Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and others. This year looks no different. Havertz scored a beautiful header from a Saka assist, and later, Saka made it 2-0 with Havertz providing the assist in return. Arsenal made a strong statement on the opening day with a commanding performance in both attack and defence. Goalkeeper Raya and his defence secured their first clean sheet, leaving Wolves with little hope of a comeback.
Aston Villa, on the other hand, were not as convincing as Arsenal in their opening performance. However, they had the tougher task of traveling to London to face West Ham. Ollie Watkins appeared sluggish, likely due to his limited pre-season after participating in the EURO championship with England in Germany. Jhon Duran stepped up, and after replacing Watkins, punished the very club that had tried to sign him: West Ham United.
Can Aston Villa upset Arsenal once again on Saturday, securing a third consecutive victory over the Gunners? So far in 2024, Arsenal have suffered only one loss, and it was against Villa. Despite this, bookmakers still favour Arsenal, even away from home. We anticipate a highly contested, high-scoring match, especially if there’s an early goal. Saturday at 17:30 CET promises action and intensity.
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