Unai Emery made five changes to his Aston Villa side for Tuesday night’s eagerly-anticipated trip to Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Ollie Watkins, matchwinner against Chelsea three days ago having stepped off the bench to bag a second-half brace, was included in Villa’s line-up.
The striker was joined in the starting XI by Amadou Onana, Lamare Bogarde, Lucas Digne and Jadon Sancho to face the Gunners.
John McGinn, Ian Maatsen and Donyell Malen were subsequently named among the substitutes at Emirates Stadium, while Boubacar Kamara and Matty Cash were both serving one-match suspensions and so missed out in north London.
With skipper McGinn initially included on the bench, centre-back Ezri Konsa assumed the captain’s armband.
Villa headed into their final fixture of 2025 on the back of equalling a club-record 11-match winning streak at Stamford Bridge, with the fixture coming just 24 days after the club’s dramatic victory over Arsenal at Villa Park.
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