Arsenal welcome Aston Villa and former manager Unai Emery to the Emirates on Saturday as they look to close the gap to league leaders Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta‘s side come off the back of a 2-1 win in the North London derby, which left them second in the Premier League table and four points behind Liverpool.
There is cause for optimism for the Gunners, who this time last year, were five points behind Liverpool, and they did easily manage to catch them in the title race. Unfortunately, so did Manchester City.
Arsenal go into the game against Villa unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League matches, with their most recent loss in the competition coming against Newcastle in early November.
They will have to go without several first-team players including Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Ben White, who are all out injured. Riccardo Calafiori is a doubt for the game, he’ll be assessed in training on Friday afternoon. Click here to see our predicted XI for the Gunners for Saturday’s match.
They play a Villa side who come off a 1-0 win against Everton in their last match. They sit seventh in the Premier League table, eight points behind Arsenal.
The Gunners backed to beat tough Villa side at the Emirates
Seeing as they haven’t lost a Premier League game since November, Arteta’s side are expected to win, and they are being backed as favourites by the bookmakers.
According to Oddschecker, Arsenal are backed to win at 8/15, which gives them a 65.2% chance to win. Aston Villa are backed at 6/1 (14.3%), and a draw is backed at odds of 7/2 (22.2%).
We predict a tough game for the Gunners, but have them winning with a 2-1 score line in what could be a big result at home.
Where to watch Arsenal vs Villa on Saturday
The game kicks off at 5.30 pm on Saturday 17 January at the Emirates Stadium, and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League.
Highlights will be posted to the Sky Sports YouTube channel, and extended highlights will be broadcast on BBC One’s Match of the Day at 10.30 pm on Saturday.