Arsenal travel to Villa Park looking to build on an impressive start to the season, against an Aston Villa side that could hardly have opened their campaign in worse fashion. Unai Emery’s team head into round two down a man for most of their opener, several key players lighter, and facing an Arsenal side playing with real confidence.Verdict: Arsenal to win Best Odds: 1.56Bookmaker: 1xBetAston VillaVilla’s season could scarcely have started worse, a 4-0 defeat at home to Brighton in which Joao Gomes was sent off in the 39th minute for kicking out at an opponent, leaving Villa to play the majority of the match a man light against a side that ended up topping the table. It follows a difficult pre-season in which Villa lost to Borussia Monchengladbach, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich, managing only six goals across their last five matches in all competitions against eleven conceded. The bigger issue for Emery is what has left the squad since: Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, and Ezri Konsa have all departed, and top scorer Ollie Watkins is reportedly closing in on a move to Al-Hilal. A potential arrival in Leon Goretzka would help, but there is no guarantee he is in place in time for this game.Aston Villa Team NewsJoao Gomes is suspended after his red card against Brighton. Amadou Onana is out with what has been described as a serious knee injury requiring a considerable period out. Brian Madjo, Johan Manzambi, Leon Bailey, and Tammy Abraham are also unavailable through injury. Combined with the reported departures of Tielemans, Rogers, and Konsa, this leaves Villa working with a significantly thinner squad than the one that finished last season.ArsenalArsenal, by contrast, arrive in excellent shape. A 3-0 win over Coventry City in their opener, with goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, and Martin Odegaard, followed a pre-season in which they beat Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield and were involved in high-scoring friendlies against Como, Borussia Dortmund, and Real Betis. Across their last five matches in all competitions, Arsenal have scored ten and conceded seven, numbers that suggest a team scoring freely rather than one relying purely on defensive solidity, which makes their recent head-to-head record against Villa, including a 4-1 win at the Emirates in December, even more relevant here.Arsenal Team NewsReports on Arsenal’s fitness genuinely conflict here. One preview lists Jurrien Timber, Bruno Guimaraes, and William Saliba as injury absentees, while a dedicated Arsenal injury update covering the same game describes Mikel Arteta as having a clean bill of health across the squad following the Coventry win. No suspensions are reported for Arsenal either way.Aston Villa vs Arsenal Key Factors to ConsiderAston Villa played more than 50 minutes of their opening match a man down after Joao Gomes’s red card against Brighton, and lost 4-0.Villa have conceded 11 goals across their last five matches in all competitions, more than double what they have scored.Arsenal have won three of the last five meetings between these sides, including a 4-1 win at the Emirates Stadium in December 2025.Villa have lost three key contributors from last season’s squad, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, and Ezri Konsa, with top scorer Ollie Watkins reportedly closing in on an exit too.Arsenal have scored ten goals across their last five matches in all competitions, with three different players on the scoresheet in their opening win.ConclusionVilla go into this missing a suspended midfielder, several injured squad players, and three of last season’s key contributors who have already left the building, against an Arsenal side scoring freely and already up and running for the season. Arsenal to win to nil is the pick.Verdict: Arsenal to win Best Odds: 1.56Bookmaker: 1xBetThe post Prediction: Aston Villa vs Arsenal appeared first on SoccerNews.