Arsenal vs Aston Villa PL Matchday 22 Preview and Prediction

Seeking another scalp at his former stomping ground, Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery takes his Lions side to the Emirates to face Arsenal in Saturday evening's Premier League contest.

Several times already this season, Arsenal has failed to capitalise on mistakes from their title rivals, but after Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, and Liverpool all let points slip from their grasp on Tuesday, Mikel Arteta's men did not let another golden opportunity pass them by.

The gap to leaders Liverpool has been cut down to four points - although the Reds still have their game in hand against Everton to come next month - and the Gunners are now officially the best team in the Premier League regarding home form alone.

Already completing his Arsenal revenge mission after his premature 2019 departure, Emery delivered the killer blow to the Gunners' Premier League hopes last April, masterminding a 2-0 triumph for Villa in what remains the hosts' most recent top-flight loss on home soil.

Replicating that result this time is not beyond the realm of possibility for the West Midlands side, who have condemned their awful autumnal period to history and head to North London fresh from a third win on the bounce in all competitions.

Emery's seventh-placed side find themselves just three points adrift of the Champions League positions, and victory on Merseyside ended an abysmal away run for the Lions, who had previously lost five straight Premier League games on rival territory while failing to keep a single clean sheet since their Emirates success last April.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa Head-to-Head

Arsenal lost this exact fixture 2-0 last season. They’ve not lost consecutive home league games against Villa since their first two meetings in the Premier League.

Villa have won five of their last 10 Premier League meetings with Arsenal (L5), as many as they had in their previous 46 against the Gunners (D14 L27).

Arsenal did win 2-0 at Villa Park in August, with Trossard and Thomas Partey scoring the goals.

PREDICTION: Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa (ALTERNATIVELY: 1 DNB)

Bayer Leverkusen one nil win denied us a clean sweep in the last round of predictions. Make sure to put your money where your mouth is this weekend as we bring another well-analysed prediction from selected matches this weekend.

TOTAL ODDS= 10.30