Arsenal vs Aston Villa prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2022-08-30 18:30.
A 2-1 comeback win against Fulham last time out ensured that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are now the only remaining Premier League (PL) side maintaining a 100% winning record after four rounds. The passionate Spaniard downplayed any title talk in the aftermath of that result by stating that his men are “in a long, long marathon", yet amid the team’s best four-game PL start in 18 years, current performances have set pulses racing amongst the Gunners faithful.
Only twice before have Arsenal begun with four straight PL wins, the last of which was the unprecedented and never matched unbeaten season of 2003/04, when they drew the fifth game. It may take some time for this group to draw serious comparisons to the ‘Invincibles’, but their solid recent PL record when playing on a Wednesday suggests that their fans might dream a little longer (W6, D1, L1).
In stark contrast, boos rang out around a frustrated Villa Park at the weekend as Aston Villa fell to a 1-0 defeat to West Ham, making it just three points from an available 12 for the aptly-named Villans (W1, L3). Calls for boss Steven Gerrard to be sacked have grown in volume and with Manchester City lying in wait following this tough trip, it could be a defining week in the dugout.
Some encouragement can be found in that Aston Villa have won four times at the Emirates in the PL (D2, L7), a winning record bettered only by City and Chelsea. Reminiscing may count for little though as Villa lost from winning positions in two of their last three PL away trips and now risk losing four straight away league games for the first time since 2017!
Players to watch: Martin Ødegaard has hit three goals in his last two Arsenal appearances and four of his last six scoring appearances were at home. As for Aston Villa, Ollie Watkins scored and assisted to take or extend leads in two of his last three away league appearances, yet both ended in defeat.
Hot stat: Villa have failed to win nine of their last ten PL Wednesday games (D3, L6), but six of the last seven saw both teams score.