Aston Villa vs Arsenal LIVE: Build-up and team news for Premier League clash
Arsenal take on Aston Villa in their second Premier League match of the season, hoping to make it six points from six. Unai Emery endured the opposite in his side’s start to the season, after shipping four goals at Brighton, as he has seen his side lose many of their major stars.
Ezri Konsa is one of those players who could make his Arsenal debut against Villa as he joins up with Mikel Arteta’s squad for the first time. Bruno Guimaraes is pushing to make his return to the fold, too, and has been training this week.
Nicolas Jackson’s arrival at Villa will come as a boost and the player was registered before Friday’s deadline and is eligible to play. Meanwhile Arsenal have not added any other new players so far and Mikel Arteta will be facing questions before and after the game for the final time before the transfer window slams shut.
All the action and build-up to come on football.london with our Arsenal reporter Tom Canton.
Here we go! The Gunners take on a Villa side who beat them here in the same fixture last season looking for some revenge.
Not long left now as the Gunners prepare to take on their former head coach Unai Emery. An unchanged team but crucially some new faces on the bench in the form of Ezri Konsa and Bruno Guimaraes.
Arsenal have a big job here to claim all three points but they are the favourites to do so.
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Arsenal need to make up for lost time in the final hours of the transfer window. Despite ambitions to leap out of the gates and significantly bolster the squad, the Gunners had an underwhelmingly slow start to the summer.
Until August, Andrea Berta had only managed to activate the option in the loan agreement with Bayer Leverkusen to keep Piero Hincapie permanently, sign Illan Meslier from Leeds United on a free transfer, and prise Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
Arsenal later splashed the cash on Bruno Guimaraes, who was set to be the first of many big names to walk through the door at the Emirates Stadium. Instead, rather than finding an alternative to Vincius Jr, who decided to extend his contract at Real Madrid, the Gunners signed Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa.
MADRID, SPAIN - AUGUST 23: Julian Alvarez of Atletico de Madrid looks on during the LaLiga EA Sports 2026/27 match between Atletico de Madrid and Villarreal CF at Riyadh Air Metropolitano on August 23, 2026 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Starting XI - Suzuki, Cash, Lindelof, Pau, Maatsen, Kamara, Barkley, Buendia, McGinn, Hemmings, Jackson
Substitutes - Bizot, Mings, Ruggeri, Garnacho, Abraham, Bogarde, Wan-Bissaka, Alysson, Lynch
Starting XI - Raya; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard; Saka, Havertz, Tzolis
Substitutes - Kepa, Konsa, Hincapie, Guimaraes, Eze, Zubimendi, Madueke, Gyokeres, Merino
With just over 24 hours remaining in the summer transfer window, Arsenal still have work they would like to do. Unfortunately, whether that is completed or not appears to be outside of what Mikel Arteta and Co would have hoped for at the beginning of the summer.
In the last 24 hours, Arsenal have successfully agreed to the sales of three players. Gabriel Martinelli will join Al Hilal in a deal worth in the region of £60million; Gabriel Jesus will join Barcelona in an £8.6million move with around £4.3million in add-ons; and, lastly, Fabio Vieira will join Hamburger SV in a move worth £7.7million.
This will take the club beyond its benchmark for a summer window regarding player sales and set a new record in the region of £120million when adding the funds brought in from the departures of Jakub Kiwior, Leandro Trossard, Christian Norgaard and Karl Hein. This has helped to offset the investment just north of £200million spent on Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa, Christos Tzolis, Illan Meslier and making Piero Hincapie’s loan move permanent as per the agreement with Bayer Leverkusen in 2025.
Andria Bartishvili is also expected to become an Arsenal player, but not until January when the move can be formalised.
Julian Alavarez's future remains unresolved with late hope from Arsenal to complete a transfer(Image: Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)
Arsenal take on Aston Villa in their second match of the Premier League season, looking to make it six points from six after their opening day drubbing of Coventry City. Villa were humbled even more greatly after shipping four goals at Brighton.
Mikel Arteta, however, knows the challenge persists despite their opponents having lost several players such as Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne, Youri Tielemans and Ezri Konsa, the latter of whom could make his debut against his old club. Ollie Watkins is set to leave the club and join Al Hilal, where Gabriel Martinelli is also expected to join, while Nicolas Jackson is believed to have been signed in time to play a part in the fixture.
The Gunners are in great shape and could be buoyed by the return to fitness of Bruno Guimaraes, while Jurrien Timber is also getting closer each week. With Chelsea to come the following weekend, there is certainly pressure on the Gunners to keep momentum high.
Read how football.london predicts Arsenal will set up here.
Ezri Konsa could make his debut for Arsenal against Aston Villa(Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Hello and welcome to football.london’s matchday coverage of the Gunners’ Premier League clash with Aston Villa.
Our Arsenal reporter Tom Canton is at Villa Park to bring full match coverage. Updates to follow...
Aston Villa 11/2, Draw 31/10, Arsenal 1/2
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