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After five matches of the current season, Aston Villa and Wolves were the only two teams without a win.
Villa were languishing in 18th place and had scored just one goal.
So, in terms of transformations, Villa’s has been quite staggering when viewing the current table.
Unai Emery’s men are up to third and if we focus on the last nine Premier League matches, Villa have taken more points than anyone else. Yes, even leaders and Saturday’s opponents, Arsenal.
With eight wins and a defeat in that spell, Villa have amassed 24 points from the last 27. That’s one more than the Gunners and victory here would see the hosts cut Arsenal’s lead at the top to just three points. It’s an accidental title battle.
Chelsea faced that same scenario last weekend but the gap stayed at six. It’s since widened to nine after the Blues lost at Leeds while Mikel Arteta’s team took another stride forward with a routine 2-0 win over Brentford.
Arsenal start the weekend with a five-point lead at the top but this game looks a far, far tougher assignment than it did back in September and Villa come into it after a thrilling 4-3 win at Brighton.
How to watch Aston Villa v Arsenal
Aston Villa v Arsenal kicks off at 12.30 GMT on Saturday, December 6 at Villa Park.
The game will be shown live on TNT Sports 1 with coverage starting from 11.30 am.
Aston Villa team news
World Cup winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez had to pull out of the Brighton game with a back injury so Dutch stopper Marco Bizot will step in again.
Ollie Watkins trebled his goal count for the season with a brace against the Seagulls so will surely start again.
Donyell Malen also advertised his claims with another goal off the bench in the Brighton win. The Netherlands frontman now has five in six for Villa.
Beyond that, Emery’s only issues are the absences of midfielder Ross Barkley and defender Tyrone Mings, who may not appear again in 2025.
Aston Villa expected line-up
(4-2-3-1) Bizot; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Onana; Buendia, McGinn, Rogers; Watkins.
Arsenal team news
Declan Rice limping off with a calf problem in midweek will have caused concern in the Arsenal camp but the player himself seemed to suggest it was a minor issue.
But central defence remains a problem for the Gunners. Gabriel is still definitely out, William Saliba is a doubt and Cristhian Mosquera will also need to be assessed after coming off just before half-time in midweek.
It suggests a shuffled Arsenal defence with Jurian Timber playing in central defence and Ben White taking over at right-back.
Leandro Trossard has missed Arsenal’s last two games with a muscle injury and his participation is also questionable.
Arsenal expected line-up
(4-3-3) Raya; White, Timber, Hincapie, Calafiori; Eze, Zubimendi, Odegaard; Saka, Merino, Madueke.
Aston Villa v Arsenal stats
– Since their return to the competition in 2019, Aston Villa have won five of their 12 Premier League games against Arsenal (D1 L6).
– At no away ground have Arsenal won more Premier League games than they have against Aston Villa at Villa Park (15, level with Selhurst Park).
– Since their return to the Premier League in 2019, Aston Villa have lost six of their eight games against sides starting the day top of the table (W1 D1). However, their only win in this run came at home to Arsenal in December 2023.
– Since losing this exact fixture in August last season, Aston Villa have lost just one of their last 25 Premier League home games (W16 D8).
– Arsenal have lost just one of their last 21 Premier League away games (W11 D9), going down 1-0 at Liverpool in August.
– Since the start of March, no side has won more Premier League games than Aston Villa (16, level with Manchester City).
– Of the 40 managers to have taken charge of 100+ Premier League away games, Mikel Arteta has the fourth highest win rate (53% – won 59/112).
Aston Villa v Arsenal predictions
The market is very clear that the battle of the Premier League’s two form teams is expected to go Arsenal’s way despite Villa having home advantage.
The Gunners are a shade over odds-on while Villa are 3/1 to close the gap to three.
Villa have a good recent record against Arsenal with two wins and a draw in the last four meetings while the last six head-to-heads at Villa Park show three wins apiece.
The last time they met, Villa fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at the Emirates thanks to goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins.
Watkins has netted six times in 10 Premier League games against Arsenal so definitely looks worth an anytime scorer bet at 11/4 following his double in the win at Brighton.
Will a Watkins goal be good enough to get Villa over the line?
Perhaps not, so given the impressive credentials of both sides, the draw looks the way to go here at 5/2.