The showpiece of the round, which before the start of the new season was predicted almost in the middle of the league year. The match between Arsenal and Aston Villa will be a clash between the first and the third team in the table. The end of the calendar year will be very exciting in the northern part of the English capital. A match in which it is not just about three points in the table. In the first place, the charges Mikel Arteta's their opponents from Birmingham after their first game together this year. Aston Villa beat Arsenal at home with a 95th minute goal. Looking at the table, however, it is quite obvious that there will be much more at stake in Tuesday's game at Emirates Stadium. One thing is for sure, it will be an all-out battle in north London. We'll have to wait a little longer to see how the game turns out. But to shorten the wait, we can move on together to the pre-match analysis, in which I'll cover all the essentials.
Form
Now we'll break out of the stereotype at least a little bit, because Arsenal will face Aston Villa, which currently boasts very interesting numbers. Most of you have probably registered how the Villans have been doing in recent weeks, but let's take a look anyway. For Arsenal themselves, we'll have a recap of their last game in particular, as well as a brief summary of their current form.
Arsenal
Arsenal picked up three more points at the weekend for the win against Brighton, who they beat narrowly 2-1 at home. Although the performance of the Gunners, who led 2:0 at the beginning of the second half, was absolutely dominant, especially in the first half, the path to full points was not so clear in the end. Everything was complicated by the contact goal at 2:1, which got Brighton back into the game. Although Arsenal had enough chances to increase the lead back to a two-goal difference, it was probably Brighton who came closest to scoring the next goal. If it wasn't for an incredible save by David Raya, who I wouldn't be afraid to label as a „save of the season“ aspirant, the end of the game could have been even more dramatic. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and Arsenal defended their narrow lead and returned to the lead ahead of Manchester City. I would rate the performance as decent, but I would describe the overall impression of the game as embarrassing. Arsenal are still struggling to convert chances.
As promised, I'm adding the Gunners' record from the last five games. If I count the league, cup and champions league, the numbers look very decent. Four wins and one win after penalty kicks (in the quarterfinals of the EFL Cup). If I were to rate only Premier League matches, Arsenal's record is slightly worse, namely four wins and one defeat, which came in the match against Aston Villa.
Arsenal's overall form, despite some less than convincing results, is very solid.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa are currently the best team in the Premier League in terms of form. And I'm not just talking about the current form, which I'm evaluating based on the last five competitive matches. While I'm at it, let's take a moment to look at the last five Villans games. Across all competitions, Unaie Emery's team's record is 100%. Five games, five wins. The same goes for the last five league games. The current form of the Villa Park team probably needs no further comment.
As I outlined a little while ago, Aston Villa's great form doesn't just last for a few games. If I take all competitions into account, the Villans players are pulling an impressive streak of eleven wins in a row. In the Premier League, the winning streak is currently eight games. An absolutely fantastic calling card for Unaie Emery's team, who last fell at Anfield in early November. Of course, the excellent results and the long-lasting winning streak also have an impact on the Villans' table position. Just before the halfway point of the season Aston Villa are 3rd in the Premier League table one point behind second placed Manchester City and only three points behind first placed Arsenal. But you know what they say, every streak has to end sometime and now it's high time Arsenal put an end to the Aston Villa one.
Aston Villa's form in a word? Famous.
Team and expected line-up
How will Mikel Arteta assemble the starting eleven for the all-important game against Aston Villa? Personally, I expect many surprises not to mention the players who are not sure if they will be ready for the game due to health reasons. I don't know why, but I can't shake the feeling that the Spanish manager at the service of the North London outfit will try to surprise his compatriot on the Villans bench.
Expected line-up
I'll skip the goalie position, there's not much to discuss there. The defense is something else. The biggest leader of the defensive line, Gabriel, and so it is highly likely that he will start against Aston Villa in the starting line-up. According to Mikel Arteta, the absence of Jurriën Timber in the match against Brighton was only a precautionary measure, so he shouldn't be missed either. The biggest question mark is the left wing-back position. Health reports Riccardo Calafiori I haven't seen anywhere, so it looks like it's going to be between Piero Hincapié and Myles Lewis-Skelly. My personal tip is that if the Italian representative is not available, then Piero Hincapié will take the left-back position.
There will also be one change in the midfield. From the position of right-back back Declan Rice will return to the midfield. Martín Zubimendi will keep the point guard position and Martin Ødegaard will keep the playmaker position. Moving to the flanks of the pitch, I think we can all agree that we probably don't need to worry about who starts on the right side from the first minute. It will be Bukayo Saka. But on the other side, I'm expecting the aforementioned Mikel Arteta substitution. Although I think our best player on the left wing at the moment is Leandro Trossard, so I suspect that against Aston Villa starts Eberechi Eze. Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see. I think we will see another surprise at the tip of the attack. I think Arteta will want to control the game, so there are two options, because on Kai Havertz in the base is too early. One is Gabriel Jesus, the other Mikel Merino. Personally, I find it much more likely Gabriel Jesus.
Absences
Only the following players remain on the official injured list at the moment Cristhian Mosquera, Ben White and Max Dowman. There are also question marks over the aforementioned duo of Timber and Calafiori. On the other hand, Kai Havertz is already 100% fit and his inclusion in the nomination depends only on the Arsenal coaching staff.
About the opponent
Third time's the charm. Also this time, Mikel Arteta's charges will be facing an opponent with whom they recently met. Specifically, Arsenal played Aston Villa at the beginning of December, so it's been a little over three weeks since the two teams last faced each other. So it makes no sense for me to rehash information from a blog dedicated to the Arsenal game at Villa Park. We have discussed the great form and table position of Villans in the beginning of today's blog, so if you are interested in a review of the most interesting from the squad, use the aforementioned blog from last time.
But I will have one interesting thing to say about the Emirates Stadium match today. Unai Emery will have to do without a couple of key players in north London due to card penalties. The first is the central defender Matty Cash, who, by the way, was one of the successful scorers in the last game between Aston Villa and Arsenal. The other is the central midfielder Boubacar Kamara. Both players are normally part of Aston Villa's starting line-up, so this is not a pleasant situation for the experienced Spanish manager. They are also expected to miss out due to health reasons. Pau Torres, Tyrone Mings, Ross Barkley and Harvey Elliott. Representational duties are then fulfilled by Evan Guessand.
Match
The Battle. That's exactly what I expect from Tuesday's game at Emirates Stadium. Both Arsenal and Aston Villa will be playing for a lot, so I would be quite surprised if there is up and down football to be seen from the first minute. But that doesn't mean we won't see a proper battle. The first third, maybe even half of the game will be about tactics. Depending on how the score (doesn't) change, maybe even most of the game. It is clear that neither team will want to make a mistake and give the opponent an unnecessary chance to score. Won't we see quality football in a tempo full of duels because of this? In short, no. On the contrary, that's exactly what a match between the first and third team in the table should offer.
The match itself will be very even in all game statistics, so the details will be decisive. Details such as home environment, form or width of the squad. Although Aston Villa dominate England in terms of form, the other factors should play in Arsenal's favour. I believe that the Gunners will be able to stop a rampant Aston Villa on home soil and also reverse their recent defeat at Villa Park. I predict Arsenal to win 2:1.
Next match
The next game awaits the Gunners „in the new year“. The first competitive match of the calendar year 2026 will be for Mikel Arteta's charges Vitality Stadium against Bournemouth at home on Saturday 3 January 2026 at 18:30 (CET).
See you next time, I'll look forward to it!
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Editor, administrator and editor of the True Gunner Diary website, but above all a devoted Arsenal fan. I started with sports articles at the Tipsport bookmaker, where I have published more than 100 blogs. If you want to know more about me, check out the section of the same name here on the site.