Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes his side are ‘prepared to understand’ how to overcome their struggles against former head coach Unai Emery and his Aston Villa side this weekend despite a number of injury scares.
The Gunners lost both matches against the Midlands outfit last season, including the 2-0 loss at the Emirates Stadium late in the title race thanks to goals from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins that ultimately derailed their hopes of beating Manchester City to the Premier League trophy.
Now following their 2-0 win over Wolves in the season opener last week, Arteta’s side are looking to keep their perfect start to the season running with a win at Villa Park – something they’ve not managed since the dramatically-late 4-2 win over them in February last year.
The Spaniard highlighted the difficulty of going to the ground in recent seasons, saying: “Yeah, [it’s] one of the toughest places to go for sure and we know that. We’ve prepared really well to understand what we have to do and we’ll go there to try to win the game.
“I didn’t enjoy [being in the stands last season] one bit. The moment I love the most during the week, you are building everything to get to that moment on the grass next to the players. The competition is in your veins and to be there [the stands] was frustrating.”
The one thing that has held the Gunners up above the rest of the league so often is their ability to win away from home, having lost just three of their 19 matches on the road in the last campaign.
“[The confidence away from home comes from the fact] that we’ve done it [time and time again],” Arteta continued. “That is the confidence and now we have to show it again. Tomorrow we have to go there with that belief, be very clear in what we want to do and what we have to do to earn the right to win the game. We will certainly try to do it.”
However, they’ll have to try and do that with some key stars not at full fitness ahead of the game, with left-back Jurrien Timber still not fully fit to start according to the Arsenal boss who told reporters on Friday morning that whilst he’s an option for Saturday afternoon, they will be extra cautious with him after he played just 48 minutes last season.
“Yeah he is [an option in midfield]. He can play in various positions,” Arteta explained. “His versatility is one of his biggest strengths. We missed him for 11 months. It’s great to have him back. He played some quality minutes the other day.
“Well, he had a really good pre-season to a point and then we had to stop him because he had a little issue there. So, we didn’t believe he was ready and we had to build him up. We have to be cautious, so I am not sure.”
Kiernan Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu are both defensive woes that are set to miss the game also, with Arteta just last week claiming they’re both “another few weeks behind” the rest of the squad. Fabio Vieira was absent from the matchday squad against Wolves last weekend and could be another that misses out against Villa after his struggles to stay fit last season.
Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were injury scares last weekend, as the England midfielder had to be substituted due to suffering from cramps while the Gunners winger was spotted limping on numerous occasions before he was replaced by Leandro Trossard.
However, there was no update from Arteta regarding the pair, indicating that they’re already over their issues and are fit and firing for this weekend as Arsenal ready themselves for what’ll be a tough game against Emery’s Villa side.
