It should be an interesting affair when the Gunners travel to Villa Park for this thrilling clash.
This ground has been the home of Aston Villa since 1897 and it provides one of the greatest atmospheres of any sporting venue across the UK. During the 2022/23 season, Villa Park had an average attendance of 41,679, and there should be very few seats unoccupied for this particular fixture.
View our Villa Park seating plan to gain a better understanding of the most ideal seats at this venue.
Aston Villa vs Arsenal History
These clubs clashed for the first time back in 1904 and, to date, they have shared 200+ meetings. More often than not, Aston Villa and Arsenal have met in the English top flight, be it the Premier League or the old First Division.
In the 1983 FA Cup, Arsenal beat Villa in the quarter-finals but were later defeated by eventual champions Manchester United.
In recent years, Arsenal have been more successful than the Villains in terms of silverware. Under Arsène Wenger, the Gunners won the Premier League three times and in 2020 they captured the FA Cup for a record 14th time.
Villa have been relatively shy of trophies in the 21st century. Under manager Unai Emery, the Midlanders qualified for the UEFA Conference League in 2023.
Some players have played for both these teams over the years, including:
• Martin Keown emerged from the Arsenal Academy but was sold to Villa in 1986. The central defender later returned to his boyhood club, from Everton, for ten-fold the transfer fee which saw him leave north London seven years earlier.
• Paul Merson joined Arsenal as a youngster and he went on to spend the best part of 12 years involved with the senior team at Highbury. The former England attacker moved to Villa Park in 1998 and remained there for four years.
• Robert Pires was an integral part of Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ squad and the ex-France international later joined Villa for a brief spell in 2010/11.
• After years of struggling to emerge as the preferred starting goalkeeper at Arsenal, Emiliano Martinez joined Villa in a reported £17m deal in 2020.
• George Graham began his playing career at Villa and the former Scotland international later spent six years at Arsenal as a player and nine years as their manager.
Aston Villa vs Arsenal Head-to-Head
Villa and Arsenal met in the FA Cup final for the first time in 2015. The Gunners ran out 4-0 winners with Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud all finding the net at Wembley.
In 2020/21, Villa completed a league double over Arsenal for the first time in almost three decades. Ollie Watkins’ early goal handed the hosts a 1-0 victory in this fixture, after the same striker netted twice at the Emirates Stadium earlier that season.
This fixture produced a fascinating six-goal encounter in February 2023. Watkins opened the scoring for the home side before Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli helped the visiting Gunners to a 4-2 win at Villa.
This came 12 years after an identical scoreline at the same venue and in the same competition; Andrei Arshavin, Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere were all on target at Villa Park in the 2010/11 Premier League season.
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