Arsenal v Aston Villa

Up today is our EPL match with Aston Villa.  Following our defeat to Moneybags €ity on Sunday, the Gunners will be looking to rebound and get a result.

You can expect Alex McLeish to put out a side that will probably sit back a bit and try and frustrate Arsenal in possession then hit us on the break.    But Villa has some potency up front with Darren Bent and the nippy Gabriel Agbonlahor.  McLeish has been playing Heskey up front too but both he and Bent are set to miss the match today.  Their strength and power could’ve provided us with some problems but if McLeish goes with Agbonlahor up top by himself, we should be able to deal with it though you can expect them to try and isolate Mertesacker 1 v 1 with long balls to Agbonlahor to try and take advantage of Mertesacker’s perceived lack of speed.

Villa has Charles N’Zogbia who has given us some trouble in the past when he was with Wigan and the Villans can also run out young winger Marc Albrighton, though he has seen his playing time diminished under McLeish’s more defensive style.

In defense, Villa is led by powerful Irish centerback, Richard Dunne who along with Welshman, James Collins, and fullbacks Alan Hutton, Carlos Cuellar and Stephen Warnock form a useful if not spectacular defense.

As for us, our injuries in our defensive ranks will force us to reshuffle the backline and it’ll be interesting to see what group of four Wenger goes with.  The early word is Vermaelen and Koscielny will both play fullback which may mean a return to the line up for, wait for it, wait for it…. wait for it.  Wait for it… Sebastian Squillaci.  I know, I know, I’m not excited about it either but he’s healthy and he’s a centerback, so it is what is.

Alexandre Song will be suspended for yellow card accumulation so someone will have to come in and play the deep lying position which probably means the Mohawked Vieira, Emmanuel Frimpong.  Frimpong ’em up, Frimpong!

With the dearth of goals up front, expect Robin van Persie to lead the frontline though maybe expect Oxlade-Chamberlain and/or Arshavin to rotate into the lineup.  Which means if I had to guess, the lineup will look like this:

Szczesny; Koscielny – Squillaci – Mertesacker – Vermaelen; Ramsey/Rosicky – Frimpong – Arteta; Walcott – Van Persie – Arshavin

Injuries:
Villa: Darren Bent, Emile Heskey
Arsenal: Abou Diaby, Lukasz Fabianski, Carl Jenkinson, Vito Mannone, Ryo Miyaichi, Bacary Sagna, Andre Santos, Jack Wilshere.

Form guide:
Villa: LDLWL
Arsenal: WDWWL

Referee: Peter Walton

Stone Cold Lock (Unless It Doesn’t Happen) Score Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Arsenal