please log in to view this image Venue: Villa Park Date: Saturday 6th December 2025 KO time: 12:30 GMT Overall Record Wins: 88 Losses: 71 Draws: 46 Last six meetings Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal Arsenal 0-2 Aston Villa Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
No idea why we're playing on Saturday midday after playing on Wednesday night, but whatever. Can't do anything about that now. I was worried about this game beforehand anyway, but now even moreso now with Rice's injury. We have no-one in the team who has his athleticism, stamina, running power or ability to eat up space. If he isn't fit, what do we do? Does Merino drop into midfield? Does Norgaard come in? Mosquera's injury is also a major worry as we have 3 of our 4 CBs out with injury as it stands. Some big decisions to be made for this game. If I'm going to be brutally honest, I think we will drop points here. But I'm hoping we show enough to get a draw at least.
I fear we may well lose this game. Villa are playing far better than we are. I would happily take a draw. If Rice is out, then I think we need to bring in Norgaard and play 2 defensive midfielders. With Mosquera likely out too, we’re looking at Timber continuing at CB. Definitely should not bring in MLS. Up front , start Gyokeres. He needs to start delivering in big games.
Apparently Rice is fine and told Sky Sports that he should be available for the Villa game. There's a good chance Saliba could be ready too. If we have Saliba and Rice fit for this one, I am much more confident. Let's see. However, and I know people may not agree, but for me this is more of a 'must not lose' rather than a 'must win'. If Villa win, they are 3 points behind us and we simply cannot allow that. A draw keeps them at bay and we maintain the gap. A win for Arsenal would be huge. But it's going to be extremely tricky. If we avoid defeat, we are still in a good position and our fixture list begins to look a bit kinder. City will be a threat and they may close the gap on us, but I'm still banking on them losing more of their away games in the second half of the season.
Yeah we need Rice back. Having Saliba back will be a huge plus as well. If we can bring our performance levels back up to where they were when we beat Bayern and Spurs we will win this for sure. But we need to play better than we did against Chelsea/Brentford.
