The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsAfter their Champions League heroics, Arsenal will be looking to maintain their winning form on Sunday as they face Aston Villa away from home. The Gunners will be looking for a victory to keep their titles hope alive, whilst Villa will be looking to get their first win under new manager Remi Garde.
Arsenal managed to get back to winning ways in the Premier League against Sunderland after a poor run of results in November. The morale of the squad will be boosted even more thanks to the 3-0 victory in Greece, which meant Arsenal progressed to the last 16. Olivier Giroud was the hero on the night after scoring a hat-trick, which took the Frenchman’s goal tally to 13 this season in all competitions. Will Giroud be the hero yet again?
Aston Villa have had a torrid time in the Premier League so far this season. They currently sit bottom of the league with just six points, and are without a win since the first game of the season. However there have been some improvements since the appointment of Remi Garde. They managed a 1-1 draw away from home against Southampton in their previous game, which on paper looked a very tricky task. Although Villa have not made the best of starts this season, they can look to exploit Arsenal’s injury struck team, who have a tendency to underperform after European games.
The Gunners however are currently second in the league two points behind Leicester City. Arsenal will have the opportunity to go top of the league for one day at least, as Leicester host Chelsea on Monday night. Taking all the injuries into consideration, Arsenal have done well to keep up with the teams at the top, and the players who have come into the starting 11 are beginning to step up. Joel Campbell in particular has caught the eyes of many. The Costa Rican looked like he would be shipped out of the club in the summer transfer window due to a lack of playing time. However, thanks to injuries the winger was given the chance to get regular first team football, and he is now becoming a key figure in Arsenal’s attack.
Villa conceded 12 goals against Arsenal last season in three games, four coming in the FA Cup final. With Olivier Giroud bang in form and Arsenal’s defence consistently unreliable, its fair to say we should be expecting goals.
Remi Garde will be reunited with his former boss on Sunday, but can he get the better of him?
Predicted starting line ups:
Aston Villa:
Guzan, Hutton, Okore, Lescott, Bacuna, Sanchez, Gueye, Sinclair, Grealish, Gestede, Ayew
Arsenal:
Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscienly, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Campbell, Giroud
