English Premier

2025-12-06 - Aston Villa vs Arsenal

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Aston Villa v Arsenal
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 6th December 2025 - Kick Off 12:30pm
This game is live on TV

Aston Villa

At 2-0 down, Unai Emery could not hide his disgust at the performance levels of his Aston Villa team, although by the end of the first half he would have been much happier as the team had levelled the game at the Amex Stadium at 2-2. Ollie Watkins scored twice in the first half and admitted the manager had 'lost his voice' from the anger he had displayed in the first half, but actions speak louder than words and the Aston Villa players came out and secured an important 3-4 at Brighton.

Coming back from 2-0 down to earn a point would have displayed plenty of character, but being able to maintain the winning run means Aston Villa have flown under the radar into 3rd place in the Premier League table. They are 6 points behind leaders Arsenal and host The Gunners at Villa Park where Aston Villa have a 5-1-1 record in the top flight this season.

Aston Villa have extended the winning run to 6 games in a row in all competitions and 4 of those have been in the Premier League since the loss at Liverpool. The home form has been even more impressive and The Villans have won 8 in a row here in all competitions since the surprising 0-3 defeat to Crystal Palace at the end of August.

Emi Martinez will be desperate to be available to face his former club, but had to be withdrawn from the starting lineup on Wednesday with a back issue. Both Tyrone Mings and Ross Barkley have been ruled out, while the likes of Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemens will be pushing for returns to the starting eleven.

Arsenal

A number of changes were made to the lineup to make sure key players are fresh ahead of a very busy run and Mikel Arteta will have been pleased that his Arsenal team were able to secure another three points in the Premier League. The only negative on Wednesday night is yet another injury picked up by a defender as options become stretched at the back.

This did not prevent Arsenal from picking up another clean sheet at home and they are 5 points clear of Manchester City in the title race, while also looking much more convincing overall. Improving the 4-2-1 record away from the Emirates Stadium will be the ambition for Mikel Arteta and his squad when travelling for the early kick off in the West Midlands this weekend.

Arsenal have maintained the long unbeaten run and the win over Brentford means they have been victorious in 3 of the last 4 games in all competitions. However, they will be playing away from home this weekend and the last 2 away Premier League games have both ended in draws at Sunderland and Chelsea.

Cristhian Mosquera has to be considered a doubt after picking up the injury on Wednesday which saw him withdrawn before half time. He joins Gabriel on the sidelines and William Saliba is a doubt. Declan Rice is another who picked up a knock and can be considered doubtful, while Leandro Trossard is expected to miss out. The likes of Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka should be earning recalls this weekend.

Head to Head

Arsenal took four points from Aston Villa in the Premier League last season.

The majority of those were earned in a 0-2 win at Villa Park in August 2024 and Arsenal have won on 3 of the last 4 visits to this ground.

Prediction

For the second weekend in a row, Arsenal are travelling to a potential title rival who are desperate to half the 6 point gap between the teams.

An early sending off changed the game when playing at Stamford Bridge and that meant Arsenal could maintain the gap over Chelsea, even as the home team had been looking most likely to win the game.

Barring something like that happening again, Unai Emery's Aston Villa look to be in the kind of form that makes opposing odds on quotes for an Arsenal win look appealing.

If Emi Martinez is missing in goal, that could be a problem after backup goalkeeper Marco Bizot made a big mistake from a Brighton corner to allow the home team to take the lead. We know that Arsenal will be looking to exploit set pieces, even without Gabriel in the starting lineup, and that is a potential issue for Unai Emery's men.

However, in the main the team look in very confident form and largely healthy, while the manager has a couple of options available to just freshen up the starting eleven. Aston Villa have continued to be one of the tougher away games in the Premier League as Manchester City found out in a 1-0 defeat here last month, while you cannot ignore the fact the home team have won 8 in a row here.

They have also only lost 1 of the last 4 Premier League games played against Arsenal and you have to have a lot of respect for the capabilities of this Aston Villa team.

Of course they had to work a lot harder than Arsenal to win a Premier League game on Wednesday night and that could be a factor in the outcome of this one.

However, Aston Villa have to take real encouragement from the injury pile up at centre half for the visiting team, while the potential absence of Declan Rice is another blow.

Add in the fact that Arsenal have drawn the last 2 away Premier League games and have not looked as completely at ease defensively during this injury-hit patch and you have to like Aston Villa's chances to earn a positive result.

Arsenal have plenty of attacking threat that makes them dangerous and there will be options coming off the bench to turn things in their favour if the momentum is lost within the fixture. They will certainly feel they can test this Aston Villa defence, although recent defensive numbers produced by The Villans have flown under the radar for many.

The expectation is that this will be a tight, competitive fixture and there may not be many goals in the contest.

Another Arsenal away draw cannot be ruled out, while it is noted that the Premier League leaders have faced five of the eight teams that are below them in the standings and won just twice.