I have a friend who supports Aston Villa. He may be a Villan but actually he’s pretty OK. I remember lamenting to him at the beginning of December that as each week of the season passed it looked like Arsenal were playing more and more like Villa. Then Villa beat Leicester City in the first week of December and my immediate thought was Arsenal couldn’t even claim that particular victory against Leicester. I’m glad things have picked up for Arsenal. They seemed to have started turning their season around; we may even do the opposite of our usual season and end up playing stronger and stronger post-Christmas (as opposed to throwing it all away after a grand start).
Taking a closer look at the overall head to head statistics for all matches played between Arsenal and Aston Villa (175) there isn’t much between the two teams:
Arsenal won: 72 (41.14%)
Aston Villa won: 62 (35.43%)
Draws: 41 (23.43%)
But when Arsenal are playing at home (88) the odds, while not stacked, are certainly leaned more in our favour:
Arsenal won: 46 (52.27%)
Aston Villa won: 24 (27.27%)
Draws: 18 (20.45%)
Aston Villa have tended to be the proverbial fly in the Arsenal ointment. Here are three Aston Villa players that I consider to be the most dangerous in the forthcoming game at The Emirates stadium.
1. Carlos Sánchez – Midfielder
It’s looking highly likely that Arsenal’s own Sánchez will be rested for the Villa game. As much as our Sánchez is good on the attack, Villa’s Sánchez is great in defensive midfield. The 28-year old Colombian national, who is affectionately known by Villan’s as “the rock” signed for Villa in August 2014. His debut game was against Arsenal at Villa Park. Sánchez’s composure and calm when on the ball, along with his boasting an impressive 85% pass accuracy could test Arsenal’s own midfield. Like Hutton he has a good success rate in aerial duels (62%). Sánchez has excellent tackling skills but this does mean he commits fouls often, which would appear to be his only weakness. Another threat comes in the form of indirect set pieces. While Mathieu Flamini likes to play short passes, Sánchez prefers to play long balls. Click the page numbers below to see the rest of the article.