Aston Villa vs Arsenal LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Leandro Trossard inspires Gunners to win

6 mins: Saka brings the ball down the wing and flicks a pass inside to Martin Odegaard. Odegaard’s fancy footwork sees him skip to the edge of the box before looking for Kai Havertz and Declan Rice making runs into the left side.

Matty Cash intercepts and sends the ball forward to Morgan Rogers. Rogers tries to spin around the nearest defender but loses the ball and the attempted counter-attack breaks down.

3 mins: Villa’s formation seems fluid between a 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 with Leon Bailey doing the work of running between the lines depending on when and how forceful Villa want to press.

Arsenal attempt to pass the ball through midfield with an inward stepping Timber slotting one over to the right wing. Bukayo Saka is the target but Lucas Digne intercepts and takes over.

Aston Villa, finally, get the ball rolling at Villa Park. They work it back to Emi Martinez who sweeps a long ball over to the right side of the pitch.

Jurrien Timber gets his first involvement by clearing the ball away but Villa recover possession and look forward again.

There’s a slight delay as the communications between the referee and the fourth officials were down. The players now leave the tunnel and head out onto the pitch.

This is another fascinating match-up which could go either way. Aston Villa have the home advantage and could spring a surprise on the Gunners.

Kick off is up next...

With both of these two teams finishing inside the top four last season this is an early clash of teams wanting to be top of the table. Both earned opening day victories last week and will want to keep that momentum going.

It’s Villa’s first home game of the year, can they earn a win against the Gunners?

Unai Emery has lost only one of his seven matches as a manager versus Arsenal in all competitions, Villa’s 4-2 Premier League home defeat in February 2023 when the Gunners scored twice in stoppage time.

Morgan Rogers has scored in each of his last three Premier League appearances at Villa Park.

Kai Havertz has an unrivalled 17 Premier League goal involvements since mid-February, with 10 goals and seven assists in 15 appearances.

The German is yet to score or set up a goal in seven games against Aston Villa, the most he has faced an opponent without doing so.

Ollie Watkins has gone six Premier League appearances without a goal since he scored in a 2-0 win at Arsenal on 14 April. He has five career league goals against the Gunners.

Both of these managers have done very good jobs, both of these clubs have made sizeable strides. One of them is nonetheless likely about to get criticised and told they need to do more in the next week or risk missing out on their objectives. And it almost doesn’t matter which coach it’s aimed at.

Such is the relentless, never-stand-still nature of the Premier League and the focus point of most outsider commentators, who see transfer necessities in draws and trophy pushes in victories, even two weeks into the season.