Villa Going For Third Straight Win Over Arsenal

Early Season Blockbuster at Villa Park

Aston Villa and Arsenal, both members of last season’s Premier League top four, got off to winning starts during the first weekend of the 2024-25 EPL season. Now, they’ll meet on Saturday in an early-season Premier League blockbuster.

Last season, Villa defeated Arsenal twice and they’ll go for a third straight win over the Gunners here. As Arsenal, who are title contenders once again, look to grab revenge, we’ll preview the Aston Villa vs Arsenal EPL odds.

Aston Villa vs Arsenal Head-to-Head:

Had Arsenal defeated Aston Villa in April, the Gunners may have gone on to win the Premier League title. Instead, Unai Emery’s Villa grabbed a 2-0 victory over Arsenal with goals from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins. Arsenal also fell 1-0 in the reverse fixture last December. The Aston Villa vs Arsenal EPL odds listed winners Villa as heavy +885 underdogs for the match in April.

The EPL scoreboard shows Arsenal won the previous four matches before last season’s slip-ups. Still, Villa have won five of their last nine matches against the Gunners.

Villa Searching for Sustained Success

• Last EPL Match: 2-1 W at West Ham
• Next EPL Match: Aug. 31 at Leicester City

It took Amadou Onana just four minutes to score on his Aston Villa debut. The Belgian international midfielder and former Everton man headed in a corner from his compatriot Youri Tielemans. Villa gave away a penalty before the end of the first half, and Lucas Paqueta converted.

Still, Jhon Duran came off the bench to score a winner for Villa in their first opening match win since 2020. Morgan Rogers was a menace on the wing for Aston Villa and the Birmingham side picked up where they left off last season.

In 2023-24, Aston Villa finished in fourth place, with a 20-8-10 record and Unai Emery guided them to their first Champions League berth. Now, they’re looking for sustained success in an unforgiving league. Ollie Watkins was joint-fourth in the Premier League stats last season, with 19 goals, and he always provides an attacking threat.

Leon Bailey, John McGinn, Ezri Konsa, Emi Martinez, and Pau Torres are all set to be key players once again. Meanwhile, left back Ian Maatsen is an intriguing addition and he played a part in the winning goal over West Ham off the bench.

Arsenal See Off Pesky Wolves Side

• Last EPL Match: 2-0 W vs Wolves
• Next EPL Match: Aug 31 vs Brighton

A goal and assist each from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka powered Arsenal to a 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers last Saturday. The Premier League’s best defensive unit in 2023-24, which only conceded 29 goals, saw off a pesky Wolves side to keep a clean sheet in their opening match.

David Raya had a couple of important interventions in goal for Arsenal, who are chasing a first Premier League title in 21 years. The Gunners were only two points away from a title last campaign and they’ve narrowly missed out on being crowned Premier League champions in each of the last two campaigns.

With Jurrien Timber back from a serious knee injury and Riccardo Calafiori in from Bologna, the Gunners’ defense may be even better this season. Many pundits still think Arsenal lack a striker with killer instinct but Havertz has 17 goal contributions in his last 15 Premier League matches.

It looks like Arsenal may also pull off a deal for Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino before the end of the week and he’d be another rotation piece. Arsenal got torched on their left side by Aston Villa last season, so it’ll be interesting to see if Mikel Arteta makes some adjustments come Saturday.

Aston Villa vs Arsenal Match Analysis & Odds

Last season, Aston Villa were one of just four teams to shut out Arsenal in the Premier League and the only side to do it twice. Villa also lost just three times at Villa Park in 2023-24 and they should have a raucous crowd in their home opener.

Meanwhile, Arsenal kept a league-high 11 clean sheets on the road in 2023-24 and went 13-3-3 in 19 away games. Expect Arteta to switch out the defensively limited Oleksandr Zinchenko for either Timber or Calafiori at left back on Saturday to solidify Arsenal’s backline.

Villa will pose the most threat to Arsenal on the counter-attack and the Gunners will have to remain vigilant. Regardless, Arsenal are -120 favorites to break their losing run against Villa and grab all three points.

• Meanwhile, Aston Villa are +290 underdogs and a draw sits at +280. Villa will feel they can take down Arsenal once again and certainly won’t back down. Some may fancy Villa +0.5 at +103 Aston Villa vs Arsenal EPL odds given last season’s results, while under 2.5 goals sits at -155.

As these were two of the highest-scoring teams in the league last season, both teams to score is at -150 odds.

While Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara are out for Aston Villa, with Matty Cash questionable, Arsenal will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Can’t get enough? Here’s more!

• Season-Opening Premier League Blockbuster
• EPL Week 1: Arsenal Take on Wolves
• Man United vs Fulham Kicks Off 2024-25 EPL
• Arsenal Look to Usurp Defending Champions Man City
• Will Man City Investigation Lead to Punishment?

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