Aston Villa travels to the Emirates tomorrow to take on the leading men in the Arsenal first team, whose understudies performed so well in the Carling Cup this week.
Arsene Wenger's young guns won, 3-0, against Wigan midweek, but the only player from that starting lineup expecting to keep his place is Lukas Fabianski, as Manuel Almunia is doubtful due to a head injury.
After recording 1-1 draws on both their previous visits to the Emirates, Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa side will be looking to go all out for the win, having not won in their last 14 encounters against Arsenal.
Villa also need a win to boost their position in the EPL table. They maybe sitting pretty in fifth, but they are as close to West Brom at the foot of the table as they are to league leaders Chelsea. Nine points is the gap between Villa and rock bottom West Brom.
For the trip to North London, O'Neill could be boosted by the return of right-back Luke Young (thigh), midfielder Stillian Petrov (hamstring), and striker John Carew (hip), although the latter is most doubtful to return, which means James Milner could be likely to support Gabriel Agbonlahor up-front.
My Starting XI prediction
Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Gallas, Silvestre, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri, Diaby, Adebayor
Aston Villa: Friedel, L Young, Cuellar, Laursen, Shorey, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Barry, A Young, Milner, Agbonlahor
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about 1 month ago
Arsenal have to win this and they should too maybe 2-1 or 2-0.
from about 1 month ago
yes indeed it will be 2-0. 2-0 to the villa!!!!
from about 1 month ago
Agh flip it anyway, I hate been wrong!! Arsenal were dreadful, not taking anything away from Villa but eeemh even I can't put a good gloss on this result! Time for Wenger to actually start benching those that aren't even bothering...bring in young Ramsey and Wilshere.
from about 1 month ago
well i can't really comment on villa's result at the moment, because i've just come back from gillingham's game with rotherham. but i am incredibly happy the mighty villa won, and i'm happy my prediction was right. it wasn't just a guess, i did think villa had a good chance of winning, either 2-0 or 2-1. great result for the villa!!!!!
about 1 month ago
I suspect we could snatch a win here given Arsenal's up and down sort of season. I fully expect Arsenal to dominate possesion but their inconsistencies is real cause for concern for them and we could easily win this one...
from about 1 month ago
yes we do have a decent chance of winning this one. we're a good side and it certainly won't be an esay game for arsenal. i'm hoping for a 1-0 or 2-1 villa win. thanks for the comment jermaine.
from about 1 month ago
2-0 to the villa!!!!! that 1-0 in my comment was meant to be a 2-0 btw, just so not to contradict the comments i've written above.
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