Last chance saloon for Villa in hosting Gunners
It is desperation time for Aston Villa when they host Arsenal on Tuesday evening, needing a win to keep themselves in contention to stay up. The Villans travel to West Ham United on the final day, but they would be facing a major uphill battle to survive in the capital if they cannot topple Mikel Arteta’s men in this encounter. The visitors are favourites despite only having two days off in between their brilliant FA Cup semi-final win and this match compared to four for the hosts. Dean Smith will get a performance out of his scrappers, whether it will be enough remains to be seen.
Last time out
Reverting to a back three of Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz and Kieran Tierney has seen the Gunners beat the best two teams in the country back to back. Proving their 2-1 win over Liverpool was not a fluke by beating Manchester City 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, knocking out Pep Guardiola’s holders.
Expectedly having only 29% possession against City, Arteta’s men were able to limit his former employers to just one shot on target. Making it a comfortable evening for Emiliano Martinez in between the sticks, who has stepped up admirably in the absence of Bernd Leno in recent weeks. Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang completed his brace either side of the interval but the plaudits went to that back three in particular David Luiz in the centre of it.
The 33-year-old Brazilian has recently signed a new one-year deal until the end of next season but has taken a lot of stick for his poor performances since the resumption of play. The Daily Mail gave Luiz and Tierney an 8/10 rating, as the Gunners’ love affair with the FA Cup looks to continue, they will face Manchester United or Chelsea in the final looking to win the competition for the fourth time in seven seasons.
It was late heartbreak for Aston Villa in their last outing, conceding an 87th minute equaliser to former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott. This came after they finally edged ahead through the unlikely source of versatile defender Ezri Konsa on 72 minutes, a victory would have put Villa just a point behind Watford in 17th. It will have felt like a loss however the positives must be acknowledged; they outshot Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees 15-9 and will look to build on that against Arsenal.
Villa have to go for it, and in that may leave themselves open at the back. With good attacking depth in the Arsenal ranks, the overs market is an advisable play.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
Villa earned a Premier League lifeline with a 1-0 win.