Aston Villa v Arsenal Pre-Match Thread

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Would prefer Clarke to NRC for the rest of the season. NRC will not take us forward. Clarke will get better and he will win more in the air and he`s distribution is better ........

[Matt Collins]

Doesn't sound like NRC is going to be fit. Collins hopefully will be though.

[darren woolley]

I will go 1-1 Gabby with gaby scoring.

[Risso]

I think we're in for a battering unfortunately.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Carew's back, so we'll be back to winning ways with the non-stop effort he puts in.

[PaulTheVillan]

It's a tough one. Start Ireland or Carew?

[Mazrim]

With Fabregas missing I'm more optimistic. I think the result might suprise a few.
I'm going for a narrow win believe it or not.

[Oscar Arce]

Looks like we could have a bit of a stronger squad at least.

Friedel: LYoung Dunne Collins Warnock: AYoung Clark Bannan Downing: Agbonlahor Carew
Subs: Guzan Beye Pires Delfonesou Hogg Ireland Lichaj

[Merv]

You're right; take Fabregas out and their midfield doesn't look so hot. I certainly don't think Wilshere's much to be frightened of and I think Clark could take care of him.

Positives are that Arsenal are vulnerable at the back, and we should have Young, Downing, Gabby, Carew and the Fonz available to feature, if not all from the start then at some point. We should give them some problems.

[pedro25]

I think Carew over Ireland just as he offers something different, even if not on form he will distract defenders giving Ash, Gabby, Downing and Bannan more space.  To be fair Carew always looks terrible up top on his own but when he plays with Gabby he can be very effective and i think Gabby might get in the goals a bit more playing off someone.  Don't think it's just as simple as Carew or Ireland though, Pires and Fonz would want that shirt too, so it will be interesting to see which 1 from 4 he picks.  People are assuming Clark straight in for Hogg, yet Hogg played better against Man U than Clark did against Blackpool, but on balance I would play Clark as I thought he was wonderful at Fulham.

[Pete3206]

Friedel
L Young Collins Dunne Warnock
A Young Pires Clark Bannan Downing
Agbonlahor

S: Guzan Beye Carew Ireland Lichaj Fonz

[PaulTheVillan]

I think that Arsenal are beatable without Fabregas.

Their defence and keeper are a bag of shit. Ashley Young always rips Clichy a new one.

I hope Pires starts.

[usav]

Their defence and keeper are a bag of shit. Ashley Young always rips Clichy a new one.

It will be interesting to see Downing against Sagna - and would have been even more interesting to see Albrighton as well.  Sagna put in one of the best defensive displays I've ever seen a couple of years ago in the 2-2 game at Villa Park.  Without him, we would have murdered them, as the rest of the defence was all over the shop.

[N'ZMAV]

Aston Villa vs. Arsenal (12:45pm GMT)

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

The early kick off sees Arsenal travel to Villa Park a ground the Gunners haven’t won at since 2007.  Gerard Houllier’s men lost 2-0 to Blackburn this weekend but have drawn the last two home games against Arsenal in the league.


Mark Clattenburg takes charge of this fixture for only the second having overseen the 1-1 draw between the two sides at The Emirates in March 2008.  Clattenburg from Tyne and Wear has had a good season thus far refereeing eleven Premier League matches including some high quality games like Tottenham against Villa and Manchester City vs. Arsenal but he, like many other referees has had his fair share of controversy and criticism none more so than Manchester United’s second goal against Tottenham when he allowed Nani’s goal to stand despite the Portuguese winger handling the ball.

Clattenburg in my opinion is one of the best players of the advantage rule and isn’t afraid to allow play to go on and come back and book players but he, along with Phil Dowd is a very good man manager because he likes to talk to players rather than showing needless yellow cards.

This is why I believe this is a fantastic appointment from Mike Riley because these two teams like to play football so as long as Clatts lets the game flow like he usually does then this has the potential to be a really entertaining game.

Clattenburg has taken charge of one previous Arsenal game and one previous Villa game this season.  He refereed Villa’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in early October, a match in which he booked three Villa players.  The Arsenal game he refereed was their 3-0 win at Manchester City where he correctly sent of Dedryck Boyata after only five minutes, and gave a penalty for a foul by Vincent Kompany.

That red card for Boyata was one of two shown by Clattenburg this season, the other was to Birmingham’s Craig Gardener against Wigan, but with no red card in a Villa vs. Arsenal match since Gilles Grimandi was sent off in 2001 so I think this one should go without any major blips for Mark

My Prediction:

Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal

Yellow Cards: 2, Red Cards: 0, Penalties: 0

Meet the ref

[N'ZMAV]

LAWRO'S PREDICTIONS
(Kick-offs at 1500 GMT unless stated)
SATURDAY
Aston Villa v Arsenal (1245 GMT)

The Champions League defeat to Braga was a bad result for Arsenal - they were cruising and only have themselves to blame for losing. And they will be without captain Cesc Fabregas at Villa Park.
However, the Gunners have the best away record in the Premier League and although Villa are good on the counter-attack, they still have lots of inexperience.
Arsenal to get back on track with their fifth away win of the season.
Prediction: 1-2

Lawro