ARSENAL welcome Aston Villa on Sunday night in the Premier League. Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) shares his favourite fancies.
Arsenal vs Aston Villa | Sunday 8th November 2020, 19:15 | Sky Sports Box Office
It has been a tough couple of weeks for Aston Villa. Having won their first four games of the season, The Villains have conceded seven goals in their last two matches and are seemingly going to The Emirates with a shortage of confidence.
However, while Villa were swatted aside in a 3-0 defeat by Leeds, they must have been amazed to find themselves 4-0 to Southampton last week, with each of their opponents four shots on target finding the net. Despite this, Dean Smith’s side managed to pull three goals back in a spirited second half performance and I expect them to be a tough nut for Arsenal to crack.
I don’t particularly rate Arsenal under Mikel Arteta. Yes, they were marginally better than Manchester United last weekend but I certainly feel that the results have been better than the performance under the Spaniard.
The key for Arsenal is getting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang more involved. The Gabon international is their best player by some distance but has been unable to get in goalscoring positions as much as he – and surely Arsenal staff and supporters – would have liked.
PEA has just two goals to his name this term – a sublime strike on the opening day against Fulham and a penalty against United last weekend. I don’t see he or Arsenal looking any more fluent against Villa on Sunday though and expect somewhat of a slog.
Arsenal have won four league games this season, but their 3-0 victory against Fulham was their only victory by more than a single goal. With this in mind, I will take the 11/4 with Bet365 on the home side winning by this margin, which makes sense to me given that 11 of Aston Villa’s 23 defeats in the Premier League since their return to the top-flight have come in this fashion.
Additionally, I will back a 2-1 win for Arsenal at 8/1 with Bet365. This has been the scoreline in Arsenal’s last two home games and given that you cannot trust them to keep a clean sheet, it looks like a good value proposition to me.
TOPICS Football Premier League TipsBest Bets
Arsenal vs Aston Villa – Arsenal to win by one goal (11/4 Bet365)
Arsenal vs Aston Villa – Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa (8/1 Bet365)
