Aston Villa vs Arsenal predictions: Tight contest on the cards at Villa Park

- Aston Villa have won 19 of their last 26 league fixtures at Villa Park
- Arsenal have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight away league games
- Recommended bet: Under 2.5 Goals

Arsenal lost only five Premier League matches last season but two of those defeats came against an Aston Villa side masterminded by former Gunners manager Unai Emery.

John McGinn's early goal gave Villa a 1-0 home victory over Arsenal in December and they struck twice in the last 10 minutes to win 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in April.

Villa went on to finish fourth, qualifying for the Champions League, while runners-up Arsenal took the title race down to the final day and both made winning starts to their 2024-25 campaigns last weekend.

Team news

Aston Villa could name the same team who started the win at West Ham. Boubacar Kamara and Tyrone Mings are injured and reserve goalkeeper Robin Olsen is a doubt.

Arsenal are likely to be without the injured Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kieran Tierney and Fabio Vieira but Mikel Arteta has no fresh injury concerns. 

Summer signing Riccardo Calafiori is hoping for a first start ahead of Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.

The stats

Aston Villa beat Arsenal 1-0 and 2-0 in last season's Premier League meetings.

Villa have drawn three of their last four home league games.

Unai Emery's men have won 19 of their last 26 league fixtures at Villa Park.

Arsenal have won 17 of their last 19 Premier League matches.

The Gunners have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight away league games.

Kai Havertz has scored five goals in his last six league appearances for Arsenal.

Prediction

Over 3.5 goals was a winning bet in eight of Aston Villa's final 10 home Premier League matches last season but Saturday's fixture against Arsenal should be far tighter.

Villa stumbled over the line in the race for the top four in 2023-24, conceding 22 goals in those 10 games at Villa Park.

However, they looked more solid in their opening 2-1 win at West Ham, whose goal came from a soft penalty, and Emery's side can frustrate title contenders Arsenal.

They beat the Gunners to nil at home and away last term, also winning 1-0 against champions Manchester City in Birmingham.

Arsenal set the standard when it comes to defending in the Premier League and they racked up another clean sheet in last weekend's 2-0 home win over Wolves.

Arteta's side kept seven clean sheets in their last eight away matches in 2023-24 but they can expect a tough test on their first trip of the new season and under 2.5 goals is an appealing price.

Back Under 2.5 Goals, available at Evens with LiveScore Bet.

Win up to £1MILLION with LiveScore 6!

Win up to £1MILLION with our free-to-play game, LiveScore 6! 

Predict the score of all six LiveScore 6 fixtures for your chance to win. 18+, UK/Ireland residents only, T&Cs apply.