VILLA TEAM NEWS
Breaking: Confirmed Aston Villa side to face Arsenal at Villa Park:
Goalkeeper:
Reina
Defence:
Elmohamady
Konsa
Mings
Targett
Midfield:
McGinn
Hourihane
Luiz
Trezeguet
Grealish (Captain)
Up Front:
Samatta
On The Bench:
Nyland, Guilbert, Hause, Nakamba, Lansbury, Jota, El Ghazi, Vassilev, Davis.
MATCH PREVIEW
They don’t come much bigger in our season than this, with Villa truly in the realms of ‘last chance saloon’ – this is the archetypal must win game!
After a hope inspiring victory over Crystal Palace (2-0), Villa then lead until the 87th minute at Goodison Park, conceding at the death to result in us taking just a point (Everton 1-1).
However, with managerless Watford losing to West Ham and Bournemouth suffering defeat to Southampton, Villa can still escape relegation. If achieved, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
Standing in our way is an Arsenal side in resurgent form having beaten Premier League Champions Liverpool and Manchester City to reach the FA Cup Final. We simply have to overturn the form book and improve plethora of stats that tell us all of the reasons why we won’t beat The Gunners.
Lose and we almost certainly will find ourselves in The Championship next season. Secure victory, and Watford stumble against Man City, and Villa will go into a final day showdown that could be decided on goal difference.
Therefore not only does winning against Arsenal become essential, but improving our goal difference with it. Both represent tall orders, but it’s the task that lays before us.
Villa should be buoyed by the return to fitness of Kortney Hause. He’s missed out on the last 2 games, but Dean Smith might consider swapping the dependable centre half for Konsa, who has struggled for form and fortune recently. You can see the latest pre-match injury news here, which also includes updates on the availability of Danny Drinkwater, Bjorn Engels and Neil Taylor.
The time for talking and pondering is now over, Villa have to fashion a victory by any means tonight at Villa Park. Whilst our future is not in own hands by any stretch, we have an opportunity remarkably even at this late stage of the campaign, to claw ourselves to safety.
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