Arsenal Predicted Starters To Face Aston Villa

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By Copyright © 2013 Goonerhead - All Rights Reserved Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
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Arsenal will look to build on their Champions League momentum by thwarting bottom-of-the-table Aston Villa at the weekend. Here’s who they should deploy.

mathieu flamini, arsenal
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Arsenal is high on confidence and overflowing with morale after going into Athens and putting down Olympiakos. That is no easy feat. The Gunners put three goals up against their opposition, the same showing that Bayern Munich put up when they went into Greece.

Related: 4 Reasons This Arsenal Team Is Different

Arsenal had previously put away Sunderland in a nervy 3-1 affair and they will be looking to put Aston Villa away with a similar scoreline, but in a more convincing manner. Villa is currently buried in the Premier League, rocking out at the bottom of the table. But that does not mean they are without quality. Villa held Manchester City scoreless and held a tight 1-1 tie against Southampton.

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However, they have also been stomped 4-0 by Everton.

Arsenal will be expected to win. They will be expected to win convincingly. With Arsenal getting into superb form, even without the help of Alexis Sanchez, they should not find much trouble. Villa have scored a league-worst 13 goals this year. That is the one area that Arsenal still makes me nervous. They have a knack for letting in goals lately. Although that is rather strange given their defense and given Petr Cech.

They may not find a similar threat against Aston Villa. Although Jordan Ayew is a viable threat and new forward Rudy Gestede has provided a small offensive boost, they have still only combined for six goals. Again, Arsenal’s defense, on paper, is more than capable of handling this crowd.

And so, let’s move on to how Arsenal will deploy against this foe, starting where we always do.

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