Aston Villa is in very high form with a streak of 11 consecutive wins in all competitions, including 8 wins in the Premier League. In this streak, Aston Villa defeated Arsenal 2-1 at home.
Currently, Aston Villa is closely following Arsenal in the leading position of the table, only 3 points away from the Emirates home team. If they continue to win, coach Unai Emery's team will catch up with their opponent.
This puts no small amount of pressure on Arsenal, but coach Arteta is very excited about this confrontation. He shared on the team's homepage: "We have a really difficult match. We know their level, what they are doing, but this is also a great match to prepare and play.
They deserve their current position. Look at what they are doing and their stability, as well as what Unai has done for the club. I think they are completely worthy of that recognition because they are showing it on the pitch, where you have to prove your class.
I have some ideas for the upcoming match and what we need to do better. The way we lost in the first leg was also quite harsh, but we will learn from that.
According to the Spanish strategist, the narrow defeat in the first leg was the motivation for Arsenal to aim for victory in the second leg.
Hosting Aston Villa is also Arsenal's last match in 2025. Stepping into January 2026, Arsenal will consider options for transfers, recruiting more players or selling some others, to prepare for the second half of the season.
Arteta admitted that Arsenal always monitors the market to see if they can make any deals to strengthen the squad, in case of more injured players, but he is still unsure whether any additions or sales will occur.
We will really pay attention to the situation and injury recovery time of each player. When looking at other clubs, they have 24 or 25 players, so our squad is not special at all.
The problem is, we have more injuries than expected, some of which are inevitable, but we want better, and we know how having enough players will affect the season.
The opportunity for transfer is opening up. We are Arsenal and we have to look at it and ask ourselves'What do we need?' We have to actively search, and whether we can do it or not? That's another story, but our task is to always be well prepared because anything can happen," Arteta added.
The Arsenal vs Aston Villa match will take place at 3:15 AM on December 31st.
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