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9 min: Gyokeres stands on Konsa’s foot and the whistle goes for a free kick … which Martinez takes his sweet time about taking. The crowd aren’t content. Then when the ball reaches the middle of the park, Odegaard clips Tielemans, who doesn’t spring back up immediately. If this is designed to wind up the home fans, it’s working a treat.
7 min: Merino pings a pass down the inside-left channel for Hincapie, who reaches the byline and chips a cross into the six-yard box Gyokeres beats Lindelof to a header, and tries to guide it across Martinez and into the top left. It’s always floating over the bar. But had he looped his effort more accurately towards the corner, Martinez might have had a job dealing with that.
6 min: Gabriel and Watkins exchange pleasantries on the halfway line, the former taking exception to the latter’s method of ushering the ball out for a throw. The referee calls them over and tells them both to stop being so bloody daft. We play on.
4 min: One very tentative probe by Sancho down the right apart, Villa have hardly taken a touch. Arsenal on the front foot.
3 min: Odegaard tries to release Trossard into the Villa box down the inside-left channel. Clank. Goal kick, so another chance for the home fans to indulge their love of interactive festive theatre.
1 min: Villa work the ball back to their keeper Martinez, formerly of Arsenal. The Argentinian World Cup winner cops the expected abuse. It is pantomime season, to be fair.
Arsenal get the ball rolling. Raya launches it long … and straight out of play near the halfway line after five seconds. Onwards and upwards.
The teams are out! Arsenal in their famous red shirts with white sleeves, Villa in second-choice black. A rare old atmosphere at the Emirates, as befits such a showdown. Excitement abounds. Probably only the second most rowdiest sporting atmosphere in north London this evening, given the darts is on up the road at Alexandra Palace, but you can’t have everything. We’ll be off in a minute!
Here’s how the top of the Premier League looks before we dive headlong into this six-pointer. Arsenal’s vastly superior goal difference means Villa can’t go top tonight … unless they pay the Gunners back for the famous 7-1 defeat at Villa Park back in December 1935, Ted Drake scoring all seven for the Gunners … in which case Unai Emery’s team would reach the summit on goals scored. Ahem.
More realistically, they’d go into second, and that’d give Manchester City the opportunity to hit the front on New Year’s Day at Sunderland. An Arsenal win however would set the leaders up nicely going into 2026 with a five-point cushion on City, and six on Villa, arguably knocking the latter out of the title race moments after they’d been identified as being part of it. Or perhaps it’s way too early for all this sort of chitter-chat. It is still December, after all.
Unai Emery speaks to Sky Sports. “Good evening … definitely this is the biggest challenge we can face … we are motivated … excited [by] this moment with the three-point difference between us and Arsenal.”
Meanwhile Sky Sports ask Mikel Arteta about the nature of Declan Rice’s injury. “He got a big kick in his knee [against Brighton] … at the start of the match actually … by the time he finished the match he had a massive swell-up … [this game] was too early for him … I hope when the swelling comes out he can function … he will be fine.”
A reminder of what happened when these teams met at Villa Park 24 days ago. One of the reasons why Ed Aarons has identified the Villans as the “thorn in Arsenal’s side”.
Arsenal make two changes to the side that started the 2-1 win over Brighton. Jurriën Timber returns from injury, while Gabriel makes his first start since early November. Myles Lewis-Skelley drops to the bench, but Declan Rice misses out altogether with a minor knee problem. Kai Havertz returns to the bench, available for the first time since the opening day at Manchester United.
Aston Villa make five changes to their starting XI after the 2-1 win at Chelsea. Ollie Watkins is rewarded for his match-turning cameo at Stamford Bridge, stepping up along with Jadon Sancho, Amadou Onana, Lucas Digne and Lamare Bogarde. Ian Maatsen, Donyell Malen and captain John McGinn drop to the bench, while Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara are suspended.
The teams
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Odegaard, Zubimendi, Merino, Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, White, Gabriel Jesus, Eze, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Havertz, Lewis-Skelly.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Bogarde, Lindelof, Konsa, Digne, Onana, Tielemans, Sancho, Buendia, Rogers, Watkins.
Subs: Bizot, Wright, McGinn, Garcia, Malen, Jimoh, Maatsen, Hemmings, Routh.
Referee: Darren England
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Preamble
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas a three-way title race …
… and while few at the start of the season would have identified one of the protagonists as Aston Villa, here we are. Since losing at Anfield at the start of November, Unai Emery’s side have gone on a remarkable run, winning 11 matches in a row, eight of those in the Premier League. One of those wins came at the expense of Arsenal 24 days ago, so they’ll head to the Emirates tonight full of confidence, hoping to complete a third league double over their hosts in six seasons. The Lions are purring.
Arsenal by contrast … well, they’re not exactly struggling, are they, sitting atop the table, on a three-match winning run in the league. But they’re not quite hitting the heights of that late-November Bayern Munich / Tottenham Hotspur sweet spot. They’ve kind of stumbled over the line in their last three home fixtures – league wins over Wolves and Brighton, and the Carabao victory against Crystal Palace – while this weird stat of four of their last six goals being scored by the opposition, with one of the other two a penalty, doesn’t exactly inspire total confidence in a team that’s come up painfully short for three consecutive seasons.
But a win’s a win’s a win (x3) and there’s something in that old saw about champion-bound sides getting the job done without playing well. Imagine what they can do when it all clicks, and they get a few players back. So three points tonight would be a huge fillip for their hopes of finally getting their flowers. But if Villa come away with anything, even a point … well, it’ll really start to look a lot like a three-way race. It’s the first big clash of the season where it genuinely feels like something is on the line, and it kicks off at 8.15pm GMT. It’s on!
