ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PREVIEW - ASTON VILLA VS ARSENAL

English Premier

2026-08-31 - Aston Villa vs Arsenal

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Aston Villa v Arsenal
Football: English Premier League
Monday 31st August 2026 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV

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Aston Villa

Very little more could have gone wrong for Unai Emery's Aston Villa as they were beaten 4-0 at Brighton on the opening weekend of the season. Despite the result, plenty of headlines were made from Emery's refusal to discuss Ollie Watkins and his future and the English international looks to be the next experienced member of the squad who will be departing Villa Park.

If things progress as expected, Nicolas Jackson is looking set to be the replacement for Watkins and as Aston Villa continue to bring down the average age of the starting eleven, but without losing the qualities that have led to so many successes in the last three years. The fans should be arriving for this Monday evening kick off looking to show the manager and the players that they are still behind them and Aston Villa have a 35-13-9 record at Villa Park in the three full seasons Unai Emery has been in charge.

Aston Villa have lost both competitive fixtures played this season, but they were significantly better in the narrow loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup than they were in the thumping defeat at the Amex Stadium. The side concluded last season with 6 wins from the last 7 games played at Villa Park in all competitions, although the exception was a defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Joao Gomes was sent off on the South Coast and will serve a suspension, while Johan Manzambi and Brian Madjo are both expected to miss out. Tammy Abraham is another doubt, as is Leon Bailey.

Arsenal

The home win over Coventry City will not have surprised anybody, but Arsenal's position as favourites to win the Premier League title may have been strengthened across opening weekend. Most of the main contenders struggled to impress, although Mikel Arteta and his players will know they need to continue to prove themselves on the field.

The Gunners won the Premier League title by a handy margin when all was said and done and they did impress by putting together an 11-5-3 away record. If they can match that again, Arsenal will believe they are going to be very hard to overtake in the final standings and this fixture looks to be scheduled at a very good time of the season.

Arsenal have won both fixtures played by 3-0 scores against Manchester City in the Community Shield and Coventry City in the Premier League. The victory over Coventry City means Arsenal are not only unbeaten in 6 Premier League games, but they have also won all of those games. Arsenal had been in mixed form away from home down the stretch with 3 wins in the last 7 on their travels, although they had won consecutive away Premier League games.

Jurrien Timber and William Saliba are not expected to travel, but Bruno Guimaraes will be given as much time as possible to prove his availability.

Head to Head

Both Aston Villa and Arsenal beat the other at home in the Premier League last season.

Unai Emery has taken charge of Aston Villa 4 times at Villa Park against Arsenal and those have resulted in 2 wins each.

Prediction

After the results last weekend, there is going to be plenty of negative feelings about Aston Villa, especially after a summer transfer window where so many key performers from last season have already departed.

Unai Emery is a very good manager, as he has proven in his time at Villa Park, but it may take a bit of time to get his new look team to gel together.

He will certainly hope they can defend better than they did in the 4-0 loss at Brighton and Aston Villa are looking like one of those Premier League clubs that may be doing transfer business right down to the final minutes of the summer transfer window.

It does make you wonder if Aston Villa will be short for this opening Premier League game of the season at Villa Park, although a reaction from the 4-0 thumping at Brighton will also be expected.

Mikel Arteta's team will understand how tough things can be at Villa Park and playing under the lights will make it that much more challenging. Arsenal have earned some good results here over the last three and a half seasons, but they have also been beaten twice by Unai Emery's men at this ground and that should make sure the players are not overlooking this opponent.

No one will doubt the quality that Arsenal will bring and they will not have forgotten losing at Villa Park last season.

This should all help as the Champions look to make some early statements about their ability to defend the title won last season. Winning here will still impress, although Arsenal look very short, even after considering all of the issues around this Aston Villa team.

Mistakes proved to be costly at the Amex Stadium and that is something Aston Villa cannot afford to make to aid an Arsenal team that may not need a helping hand with the qualities they have.

One of the early standout performers for Arsenal is new signing Christos Tzolis and he may follow Maxim De Cuyper in having several shots from the left side of the Arsenal attack. He may be the player to back to have a shot on target against this Aston Villa team that are likely going to drop back and make themselves harder to beat on Monday night.

Christos Tzolis has not shied away from having his efforts when those opportunities have come up for him and his confidence is clearly sky high right now.

The gut feeling is that Aston Villa may make this tougher than the opening results for both clubs will have some believe, but backing Tzolis looks the best approach to take in this Premier League game to round out this set of fixtures.

The Pick :

Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Christos Tzolis Over 0.5 Shots on Target at 1.61 with Bet365