Kick Off: 17:30 GMT

Location: Villa Park, Aston, Birmingham

UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

Possible Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Diaby, Luiz, Kamara, McGinn; Tielemans; Watkins

Aston Villa Injuries: Traore (Minor doubt), Buendia, Mings

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli

Arsenal Injuries: Smith Rowe, Vieira, Timber, Tomiyasu, Partey

Pre-Match Facts and Thoughts:

Villa are unbeaten at home in 14 games in a run stretching back to February where they saw their last home defeat to Arsenal after a late winner from Jorginho that I’m sure we all remember very well. They are on exceptional form and come off the back of a dominant performance against Manchester City in a midweek game. Having had one less day to recover than Arsenal who played on Tuesday, fatigue may be a factor here given the unrelenting nature of Arsenal’s play.

Arsenal come into this game unbeaten in 6 games, hot off of a 4-3 win at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday in an instant classic Premier League game. The Arsenal attack, much criticised for ‘not clicking’ this season has recently found form, with Kai Havertz in particular on a great run with 3 goals in 4, finding a partnership on the field with Gabriel Jesus who ties it all together up front. Odegaard is looking back to his best after a minor injury with him finding an assist to win the game in injury time against Luton.

There is a lot to play for in this match as Aston Villa find themselves right in the battle for a Top 4 finish with a victory seeing them consolidate this position even further with an 8 point gap over Spurs on horrible form, who visit St. James’ Park on Sunday. Arsenal will look to widen the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City, with the three teams looking to be locked in a three way title fight.