Arsenal travel to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa in Saturday’s early kick-off looking to put a stop to their recent run of poor form.
The Gunners surrendered top spot in the Premier League on Wednesday as Manchester City landed a huge blow with a 3-1 win at Emirates Stadium. Mikel Arteta’s side have gone four games in all competitions without tasting victory but can regain first place with a result against Villa.
Arsenal had gone 13 games without defeat in the Premier League before their 1-0 reversal at Everton on February 4 and that result was followed by a 1-1 draw with Brentford and the damaging loss to City. They have scored just twice in their past three games and haven’t kept a clean sheet in four matches.
The stakes are high in the 12:30pm kick-off against Villa, where the narrative is enhanced by former Arsenal manager Unai Emery, who has plenty to prove against the club who sacked him to bring in Arteta back in November 2019.
Arteta has not had much time to prepare for the clash and he has one major injury problem on his hands. Thomas Partey missed the City game with a back injury and remains a doubt ahead of a late fitness tests.
“We have to assess him today again,” Arteta said in his pre-match press conference of Friday. “He had some discomfort, a little muscle discomfort. We have to assess him and see how he is.”
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If Partey is not fit enough to play, then Jorginho will continue to deputise in central midfield after making his first Gunners start against City following a £12million move from Chelsea on January transfer deadline day. Arteta has full confidence in the Italy international.
“He’s really good,” he said of Jorginho. “He’s come into the team and earned the respect of everybody. I think he had a really good game.”
Arteta has been loath to change his line-up in general this season, preferring to stick with continuity. But Takehiro Tomiyasu is likely to lose his place at right-back to Ben White following a nightmare performance against City which saw him present Kevin De Bruyne with the opening goal and then deflect Jack Grealish ’s shot in for the second.
Gabriel Martinelli is another who could step out of the starting line-up after a run of eight games in all competitions without a goal. Leandro Trossard has come off the bench in four of his five appearances so far and might be due a start.
“He’s had an impact every time he’s been on the pitch so he’s an option,” Arteta said of the Belgian, who cost £27m in January from Brighton.
Gabriel Jesus remains unavailable through injury, but Emile Smith Rowe should be in the squad for the trip to Villa after spending some time on the sidelines. “Emile is training today, if he’s fine he’ll be in the squad. Gabi is still not there,” Arteta said.
Possible Arsenal XI vs Aston Villa: Ramsdale; White, Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko; Jorginho, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard, Nketiah.
