Arsenal vs Aston Villa
Feb 23, 2013 at 3pm (UK)
Emirates
Arsenal return to the premier league action today when they host Aston Villa in a match where 3 points is more than a necessity. With a dismal performance against Bayern Munich in the champions league and FA cup exit at the hands of Blackburn prior to that, the champions league qualification will be the only possible achievement that ArseneWenger and his men can look forward to.
Can Wenger and his men restore some pride at the Emirates tonight?It’s been a rough week for Wenger and a win at home could settle some of the frustrations he has had. Arsenal are currently 4 points behind rivals Tottenham who sit at the last champions league qualification spot and any more slip-ups would mean a disaster for the Gunners. After a few frustrated press conference, Wenger gave a light heartened one yesterday and when asked about the prospect of quitting, he said:
“Never. Not one second. I don’t think that (motivation) spark has anything to do with the length of your life. It is just that’s how you are and you’re motivated by how much you want to win and how much you are a winner. If I go out now and play one against one with you, you will see I will beat you and at least if I don’t manage to beat you, I will want to beat you. That will not change as long as I can move.”
Meanwhile Aston Villa are in a bit of a mess of their own. With 24 points from 26 matches, they are doing worse than last year when they survived relegation with a meager 2 points above the drop zone. Villa won their first game this year beating West Ham United 2-1 at home last week which saw them rise above the bottom three for the first time since December.
Christian Benteke has been the stand out player this season and without his goals Villa would be in much worse situation. And talking about Benteke, Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert believes said:
“It doesn’t concern me who he is linked with and who he is not linked with. It proves he’s doing well for me and doing well for himself. That doesn’t interest me, what other people think. I don’t read the headlines. I just get told. As far as I’m concerned, the guy is here and he isn’t going anywhere until I say so or not really. That’s the bottom line.”
Aston Villa are yet to take 3 points away from home this year and if Benteke and Co can survive the Arsenal attack, they are with a chance to take at-least point back to Villa park.
Team News and Injury news:
Arsene Wenger should be having all of his first teamers with the exception of left-back Keiran Gibbs. Nacho Monreal who missed the Champions league game should return to the starting line-up. Giroud is also expected to start alongside Walcott and Podolski which means Ramsey should be pushed to the bench.
For Villa, Karim El Ahmadi could return along with Gabriel Agbonlahor but Marc Albrighton is still missing.
Possible starting lineupsArsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen; Arteta, Wilshere; Walcott, Cazorla, Podolski; GiroudVilla: Guzan; Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Baker; Weimann, El Ahmady, Delph, N’Zogbia; Benteke, Agbonlahor
- Arsenal have won only two of their last six home matches against Aston Villa in the Premier League.
- Only Mata, Silva and Valencia produced more assists than Theo Walcott who has 16 assists.
- Aston Villa players got more yellow cards than any other team. They lead the charts with 54 yellow cards.
- Arsenal’s offside trap caught more players offside than any other team in the premier league. 91 times they have caught players offside.
- Christian Benteke has now scored 6 goals in his last 5 games. Watch out for him!
- Theo Walcott has equalled his highest tally of assists in a single Premier League season (8 – the same as 2011-12).
- Only three players have produced more assists in the Premier League since the start of last season than Walcott (16), Mata, Silva and Valencia.
- Arsenal have created fewer goal scoring chances from corners than any other side this season (24)
- Villa have been shown more yellow cards than any other Premier League team this season (54).
Prediction: 2-1 win for the home side.
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