Aston Villa-Arsenal Preview: 3 points, bitte?

We should win.

Aston Villa
League Position: 10th, 16P, 4W, 7D, 5L, 18GF, 21GA, -3GD, 19pts
Home Form: 8W, 3W, 2D, 3L, 10GF, 9GA, +1GD
Last Meeting: Arsenal 1-2 Aston Villa (May, 2011)

Tomorrow we travel to Villa Park, the site of an Aston Villa team that has been mediocre in every sense of the word this season. Mediocre squad, mediocre “star” players, mediocre manager, mediocre results… and they sit right smack in the mediocre middle at the table, in 10th place. A bit better than the current horrible sides of the Premiership (namely, Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan, Sunderland, and Wolves), but much, much worse than the Sensational Six, Villa are appearing to be suffering a pretty average season, on paper at least, if it weren’t for the actual displays on the pitch. Villa have been insipid, idle, complacent, and just very sluggish throughout this season, a condition no doubt exacerbated by Alex McLeish’s dour tactics. Of course, Villa fans sit frustrated and somewhat angry as their team’s season unfolds, with their negative emotions no doubt heightened by the fact Mr. McLeish is the manager responsible for their team’s stay in the doldrums. For those unacquainted with English football rivalries, McLeish’s situation at Villa is akin to Guardiola quitting Barca and becoming Real Madrid’s manager… but in this world, Mr. Guardiola is a ginger, very pale, and less talented. The analogy stops there, really.

Not to mention mad creepier...

So I think that despite our setback on Sunday, and our current injury nightmare, we should be confident on leaving Villa Park tomorrow night with the 3 points in hand. Villa have a bit of a reputation of being a tricky team to face for the top sides- indeed, they beat us 2-1 at the Emirates last season, right in the middle of our Spring Collapse. They also beat us 2-0 at the Emirates back in 2008/09, and claimed at 1-0 win over Man U at Old Trafford one season later. In recent years, however, Villa have seen their status as a bogey side and possible European contender slide, and this season they have lost all of their encounters with any team currently in the Top 6 (as well as drawing 1-1 with Newcastle at home). McLeish has set his team to play a defensive, unimaginative style, something that really shouldn’t present much of a threat to us at all tomorrow. They do have the speedy Gabby Agbonlahor, the mercurial Marc Albrighton, and our unlucky mark, Darren Bent. Fortunately, Bent is injured for tomorrow’s match. At the same time, Arsenal have a tendency to drop points when they really shouldn’t, although to be fair, our only surprise loss so far this season was in our 3-4 loss to Blackburn (Ugh. I still can’t believe we lost to Blackburn. Is this how Amon Goeth’s mistress felt?). This is a must win for mundane reasons.

Our team news are as grim and doomy as you can expect. Gibbs has suffered a “Setback” to his recovery, meaning he will return in [insert far-away date joke here.]. Djourou is out for 3 weeks with his groin strain. Song is suspended for this one, after receiving his 5th yellow card of the season on Sunday. Everybody else who is currently injured, is still injured (duh), although Fabianski and Ryozilla return next week. Yay!

Based on the remains of our first team squad, I’ve concocted this monster of a line-up:

Szczesny

Koscielny  Mertesacker  Vermaelen  Miquel

Coquelin Arteta

Walcott Benayoun Gervinho

van Persie

Subs: Almunia, Squillaci, Frimpong, Rosicky, Ramsey, AOC, Park

With Sagna, Jenkinson, Djourou, Gibbs, and Santos all out until December 4, 2034, our only defenders remaining are Kos, ‘Sack, TV5, Miquel, and Squillaci. No guesses on who sits out of those 5. Kos and Miquel will slot into the full back spots- unless Wenger is feeling flamboyant tomorrow and shifts Miquel to the middle and puts Vermaelen out left. In midfield, with Song out, it will be one of DEENCH/Coq who will replace our favorite Cameroonian. As always, my money’s on Coq. Ramsey has deflated a bit in our last couple of matches, and a rest tomorrow would do him a world of good. Benayoun should come in and operate as our dynamic, offensive midfielder. Up front, no risks should be taken and our front three, Gerv/RVP/Theo, will continue to start. For all of our front three’s deficiencies (respectively: lack of end product, inability of being cloned, consistency), those 3 are our best forwards… until January.

The bench should be filled up with our other remaining first team members. I really do think, however, that Arshavin and Chamakh should be replaced by AOC and Park. To put it mildly, our Russian/Moroccan scapegoat duo have been… ineffective pretty much all season, and it’s time our other attacking options are given a chance to prove themselves. Face it- Villa are about as easy of a team we have to experiment against, and the fact that the team has only had a 2-3 day break since Sunday means that Wenger should be inclined to experiment. AOC has looked at the very least decent whenever given a chance, and Park has as many goals as Chamakh, in 9 less games. Do it, Arsene.

So, to reiterate, this is a must win, simply because it would be madness to lose or draw to a Villa side in such dire straits right now. van Persie still has about 3 games left to break Shearer’s record on most league goals in a calendar year, so it would be nice for him to achieve that goal. Walcott needs a good game, our youngsters deserve a chance to prove themselves, even Almunia might get a shot at redemption! (Ed. Note: No, he won’t. Szczesny, stay as healthy as possible. Forever.) Spurs and Chelsea play on Thursday, so that’s a good chance that one- or both- of them will lose ground in the race for 3rd/4th. So let’s go out there and get a big win.

For our North American viewers, the fascists at Fox will only show Manchesters-Fulham/Stoke City tomorrow and, inexplicably, Newcastle- West Brom. Time for a stream!

Come on Arsenal!

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Category: Fixtures, Players, Premiership, Preview