Credit: Arsenal.com
Aston Villa vs Arsenal is becoming as big as Manchester City vs Arsenal in the Premier League. Both teams have given us classic matches in the last two seasons with their meetings in the 2023/24 season still being talked about.
Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta are two of the best managers in the Premier League at the moment and were rightfully nominated for the Manager of the Year award (Pep Guardiola would end up winning it thanks to his City side winning an unprecedented fourth title).
This season, they will both go at it once again with clear intentions: ruining the start of the 2024/25 season for the other. It is not a match that both managers would have liked to start their seasons with, but it will show them how ready they are for what promises to be an even more intense season.
Villa Park will be standing up for this game between two English football giants.
Keep reading for the match ticket information, previews, team news and the scoreline prediction for the day.
Ticket information
Aston Villa vs Arsenal will be played on Saturday 24 August 2024 at 5:30 PM UK time. Villa Park will host this clash which many expect to be one of the best in the 2024/25 English Premier League season.
The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports for fans in the UK, which makes it Arsenal’s first television match of the season. Fans outside the country with subscriptions to Premier League broadcast partners will also be able to watch it live on television or streaming.
Match-going fans in the UK, whether tourist or local, will have to visit both clubs’ websites for their Aston Villa vs Arsenal tickets. Tickets to the game are selling fast because of what this fixture provided for fans last season.
Where fans on either side of the divide are unable to buy tickets hassle-free and without waiting on a registration validation queue, there are trusted ticket reselling platforms like seatsnet.com that provide means to get these tickets.
Team news
Arsenal have added Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori to their ranks even though he has not been officially announced by the club at the time of writing. That makes him the second signing after their official capture of David Raya from Brentford at the end of last season.
Both signings have given Arsenal a boost, especially with the injury-prone Takehiro Tomiyasu still in their ranks. The club is expected to let go of a few more players soon, with one surprising name being striker Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian is linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, but there are no concrete links to verify that story. It is understood, however, that the Gunners will work to add one more midfielder, wide forward and striker to their ranks before they close off their summer transfer dealings.
Villa, on the other hand, has been busy in the transfer window since qualification for the UEFA Champions League. The Birmingham-based club have spent around £150 million to strengthen their team this window to help manager Unai Emery with a squad that is deep enough to handle the rigours of four competitions.
Players who have officially joined their ranks are Ian Maatsen, Cameron Archer, Jaden Philogene, Samuel Iling-Junior, Lewis Dobbin, Enzo Barrenechea, Ross Barkley and Amadou Onana, who is now their club-record signing. Onana comes in to replace Douglas Luiz, who moved to Juventus.
They are also linked with João Felix, who spent last season on loan at Barcelona from Atlético. This would be an even bigger coup than Onana for the Villans.
This is how we expect both teams to line up for their clash at Villa Park:
Aston Villa: Martinez; Maatsen, Torres, Carlos, Konsa; Tielemans, Onana; Bailey, McGinn, Philogene; Watkins.
Arsenal: Raya; Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, White; Rice, Jorginho, Ødegaard; Martinelli, Havertz, Saka.
Match preview
The popular opinion is that Aston Villa cost Arsenal the 2023/24 Premier League title. They were the only team to defeat Arsenal twice in that season, a feat that Manchester City could not achieve. Unai Emery earned his flowers among the Villa fans as a result of those defeats, while also earning some more respect from the Arsenal fans who wanted him gone from their club during his time as their manager.
Emery still has a bone to pick with the Gunners as has been seen any time Villa take on Arsenal. He wants to prove that they let him go too quickly and did not provide him with the same kind of support that Mikel Arteta is getting. Therefore, this match will be as fast-paced as the last two matches between both sides.
Villa have an ace in the hole in the person of Ollie Watkins, a striker that Arsenal are still very interested in. Depending on how the window goes, the Englishman, whose goal sent the Three Lions to the 2024 Euros final, could be in Red and White instead of Claret and Blue.
Whatever happens, Arsenal fans, Villa fans and fans at home are in for a treat come Saturday, August 24, 2024, at Villa Park.
Prediction
Tickets are selling fast for this clash in Birmingham that pits two managers who nurse a deep rivalry with each other thanks to Arsenal. Emery still has a soft spot for the Gunners and seems like he would be happy to return to their dugout but Arteta stands in his way. If you want to witness this clash live, hurry over to the club websites or to seatsnet.com to claim yours now.
Arsenal will choose the more conservative route in their first away trip while bearing in mind what happened during their last visit to Villa Park. There will be a lot of counter attacks and the winner will come from who scores first.
Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal
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