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Aston Villa v Arsenal
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Kick Off: Saturday 9th December at 17:30
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Competition: Premier League
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Watch Live: Sky Sports Main Event
Saturday’s Premier League action draws to a close with a fascinating game between Aston Villa and Arsenal, and along with bet builder tips for this game, we’re covering the Premier League weekend in a variety of ways, including Premier League predictions and a selection of Premier League accumulator tips. It’s not just England’s top flight either, with Andy’s Bet Club containing a wide range of other football betting tips & predictions to help you build some winners.
We have also searched high and low to find the very best available free bets and all of the latest bookmaker offers we have collected here on Andy’s Bet Club to help you find the very best value available.
League leaders Arsenal head to Birmingham for a clash with an Aston Villa side who are just three points off top spot in third.
Arsenal are fresh off a last-gasp victory over Luton to maintain their gap at the top of the table, a game that some will hail as a mark of potential champions, whilst others will question how they conceded three goals to Luton in the first place.
Villa meanwhile are in a buoyant mood, with Unai Emery’s men having pulled off an exceptional performance midweek to extend their home winning run to 14 games with a dominant display over a depleted Man City side.
In-form Arsenal is yet another tough test for the Villans, but so far this season they are demonstrating that they must be taken seriously, with this game offering another opportunity for the Midlands side to take a big scalp at home.
This should be an extremely entertaining game, and one which is perfect for a bet builder, so let’s get straight into our heavily-researched tips ahead of this one.
Aston Villa v Arsenal Cheat Sheet
This Cheat Sheet and Preview was created using predicted lineups.
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You can find Aston Villa v Arsenal match stats, on my bet builder stats tool, along with official line-ups one hour before kick-off.
⚽ Goals stats: No clean sheets to be found here
Despite a generally good defensive record, Arsenal have kept just one clean sheet in their last five Premier League games, and only one in their last four away games in the division.
With four goals conceded in Arsenal’s last two league fixtures, including three at Kenilworth Road in midweek, there looks to be a good chance Villa will find the net at least once.
Before their 1-0 win over Man City on Wednesday night, all six of Villa’s home games have seen at least four goals so far this season, and whilst this may prove to be a cagier affair, goals still seem likely.
Both sides have scored in six of Villa’s seven home games to date, and the hosts have failed to score just twice all season, both in away games, one at Anfield and the other at the City Ground.
Predictions:
⚽ Both teams to score @ 1.50
⚽ Over 2.5 goals @ 1.57
🎯 Shooting stats: Arsenal to pepper Martinez’s goal
Douglas Luiz is a nice outside bet for Villa. The Brazilian is the team’s penalty taker, and often takes free kicks too. His position means he finds himself in pockets of space, and he is never afraid to shoot. Luiz has taken nine shots in his last two Premier League starts, including a shot on target in both, and has had a shot on target in three of his last five league games at Villa Park.
Moussa Diaby also looks to be a nice option, should he return to the starting line-up as expected. Apart from his last start, where he was subbed at half-time, Diaby had a shot on target in his last three consecutive starts, taking five shots total across those three games.
There is not a great deal of value to be found in player shots for the visitors, however team shots do look to offer some good value.
Arsenal’s attacking unit have been excellent recently and have put on at least 14 shots in all of their last five league games, averaging 17.4 per game across the period. Villa meanwhile have conceded at least 17 shots in three games against this season’s top six.
All three of those games saw at least four shots on target against Villa, and an average of 7.7 shots on target, whilst Arsenal have averaged 6.25 shots on target in their last four league games.
Predictions:
🚀 Douglas Luiz to have 1+ shots @ 1.30
🚀 Douglas Luiz to have 2+ shots @ 2.80
🎯 Douglas Luiz to have 1+ shots on target @ 2.80
🎯 Moussa Diaby to have 1+ shots on target @ 1.73
🚀 Arsenal to have 11+ shots @ 1.30
🚀 Arsenal to have 13+ shots @ 1.73
🎯 Arsenal to have 5+ shots on target @ 1.62
🚩 Corners stats: Arsenal look to dominate yet again
Arsenal have taken more corners than any other Premier League side this season, averaging 8.43 per game, whilst in their seven away games they have never had fewer than six corners in a game.
They have won the corner battle in six of these seven away games, and have never lost, drawing once with Bournemouth but comfortably winning the remaining six.
Their opponents on the road have averaged just two corners per game, much less than the 8.42 Arsenal average. Their lowest corner total of the season, six, is equal to their highest corners faced total, and besides that six conceded to Bournemouth, they have faced three or fewer corners in each other away game.
Villa have averaged a shade over 4.5 corners per game at Villa Park, and this is despite dominating the ball in five of their six home games. They will not have most of the ball here, and in their only other home game in which they did not have the lion’s share (against Brighton), they managed just one corner.
Predictions:
🚩 Over 4.5 Arsenal corners @ 1.57
🚩 Over 5.5 Arsenal corners @ 2.10
🚩 Arsenal corner match bet @ 1.67
🛑 Fouls stats: Lots of value to be found in player fouls
For Aston Villa, Youri Tielemans provides a nice value option in the fouls market. Despite starting just once in the last five league games for the Villans, Tielemans has picked up a foul in four of these five games, including in just 12 minutes against Luton.
Another option is to look to the fouls won market instead. Gabriel Jesus commits more fouls than any other Arsenal player by a distance, at 2.15 per 90. He will be tasked with pressuring the Villa centre-backs, and Pau Torres has now been fouled in four Premier League games in a row, so backing Torres to win a foul here looks a fantastic option at odds of 3.30.
For the Gunners, we like the look of Gabriel Martinelli to commit at least one foul here. Four of his last five league starts have seen the Brazilian commit at least one foul, whilst his run of three games out of the last five seeing two fouls suggests there could be value to be found in backing him to commit two or more.
This should be a fiercely competitive affair with a crowd right behind their team, so Arsenal will need to be aggressive in their press to get a hold on the game, which should lead to fouls from their forwards.
Predictions:
🛑 Youri Tielemans to commit 1+ fouls @ 1.20
🛑 Gabriel Martinelli to commit 1+ fouls @ 1.22
🛑 Gabriel Martinelli to commit 2+ fouls @ 2.20
🩹 Pau Torres to win 1+ fouls @ 3.30
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
18+ please gamble responsibly.