Aston Villa vs. Arsenal: Match Preview

Arsenal travel to Villa Park on Wednesday to take on an Aston Villa side who have been the definition of ‘average’ so far this season, neither thrilling nor horrifying their supporters and sitting bang in the middle of the Premier League table. Both sides are fresh off a loss at the weekend, Arsenal being narrowly pipped by Manchester City in an entertaining encounter and Villa being not-so-narrowly outplayed by Liverpool at home.

Arsenal: Full-back troubles and burn-out

When Johan Djourou pulled up with a groin injury at Eastlands on Sunday, it was Arsenal’s fifth injury in the full-back position this season. Carl Jenkinson is nursing a stress fracture in his back, Bacary Sagna has been out since October with medial ligament damage, Kieran Gibbs has an uncooperative hernia and Andre Santos got some Greek rage handed to his ankle at Olympiakos. This means that Arsenal will most likely travel to Villa with Thomas Vermaelen, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Ignasi Miquel and Sebastian Squillaci as their only recognised defenders, all of them centre-backs.

Gibbs was scheduled to return in this match, or against Wolves at the latest, but Wenger revealed that the Englishman has suffered a setback in his progress and will be out for a longer time than initially feared. While not forthcoming on giving any dates for his return, the Arsenal manager admitted that they might enter the January market for a left-back if the scans and tests don’t go as planned for Gibbs.

Speaking to the official site, Wenger said-

‘Kieran Gibbs has unfortunately had a setback and he is not back yet. It’s very disappointing because we had good hope that he would be back for tomorrow’s game, but he is not available.’

Arsenal will also be without the services of midfield destructor Alex Song for the Villa game, with the Cameroonian picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Man City. This enforced rest aside, Arsenal enter a crucial and congested period of the season with many players in their team flirting with the ‘red zone’ of fitness. Midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta have been virtual ever-presents in the starting line-up this season, and Wenger will have to monitor the fitness of the Welshman in particular, who returned from a broken leg last season and is unaccustomed to playing uninterrupted football for long durations.

Knock-knock-knocking on Wenger's door

Looking at the front three, Robin van Persie, Gervinho and Theo Walcott have also been huffing and puffing along with minimal rest. Players like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Marouane Chamakh, Ju Young Park, Tomas Rosicky and Yossi Benayoun are waiting on the fringes, fuelled up and raring to go. With two must-win games at home against Wolves and QPR on the horizon, Wenger is expected to give some of his first-team players a breather.

Aston Villa: Scoring problems and Christmas shopping

Villa’s biggest undoing this season has been the lack of a proper goal-scorer who can put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis. The Midlands outfit have scored 18 goals so far, only marginally higher than Robin van Persie. Their top goal-scorers are Darren Bent and Gabriel Agbonlahor with five league goals each, and Villa would want to set that record straight as soon as possible if they are to stage an upward push in the table.

Not exactly the greatest of goal-scorers

Looking at team news for the Villains, Emile Heskey (whose goal-scoring prowess is not one of his strong-suits) is out with an Achilles problem, while Chris Herd and James Collins are putting ice-packs on sprangled knees.

Alex McLeish would have been happy to have the services of Darren Bent in this game, with the club-hopping Englishman having scored six times in the last eight games against the Gunners. But Bent still hasn’t recovered from a thigh injury. Bent was making the cameras go clickety-click for the wrong reasons at the weekend, having been pictured going out shopping while Aston Villa played Liverpool.

McLeish downplayed the controversy, and mildly rebuked Bent for not staying on to watch the entirety of the match. He said-

“The lad was told to stay at home and rest. He was in here (at the club’s training ground) for three or four hours on the day of the game.

“I think he watched most of the game, saw that we weren’t going to win it and popped out to the shops. He was out of the house for about an hour. A massive fuss was the result of that.

“If he’s guilty of anything then he’s guilty of that – he should have stayed for the last 10 minutes.”

All players will be feeling the effects of a draining Christmas schedule, and the first goal could be vital in deciding the winner for this game. Villa’s defence has been relatively solid this season, and they’ll have to be at the top of their game to stop Arsenal’s fresh (if Wenger rotates right) and nippy wingers. Arsenal’s all centre-back defence will likewise have to keep their eyes peeled open, lest a speeding Agbonlahor prances past.

Both teams will doubtless be looking for the win, and it should be interesting to observe who tires first.