Arteta believes 'sensational' Arsenal can catch Liverpool in title race

Mikel Arteta believes his "sensational" Arsenal are capable of catching Liverpool in the Premier League title race, ahead of hosting Aston Villa on Saturday.

Arsenal lost in both the EFL Cup and FA Cup – the latter on penalties to Manchester United – but bounced back on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over fierce rivals Tottenham.

That top-flight win moved Arsenal within four points of Liverpool, who still have a game in hand to come next month, and Arteta is confident of hunting down Arne Slot's men.

Asked if Arsenal are title contenders, the Spaniard said: "Yeah we are. There is so much to play for. We can see how difficult it is for every team."

As for the performance against Spurs, he added: "We were sensational. It was a big test after two games and not getting rewarded.

"We were incredibly good in the last game against United and we ended up losing somehow.

"It's how you respond to a situation. These boys want more, They want to be tested and questioned, then they want to go on the pitch."

The winning moment pic.twitter.com/0ayufbIRso

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 16, 2025

Villa were 1-0 winners at Everton in midweek as Ollie Watkins' strike helped his side move to seventh in the table.

"I am happy and a clean sheet is very important," former Arsenal manager Unai Emery said before looking ahead to Saturday.

"The most important thing is to win but we are conceding a lot of goals, more than normal and I don’t know exactly why.

"We have a bad spell in the last matches we played away in the Premier League and we try to be consistent in the table, to get in the top 10 positions and try to be all the season more or less with the possibility to be in Champions League."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Arsenal – Martin Odegaard

Since his first start following his return from injury against Chelsea in November, Martin Odegaard has created 42 chances in all competitions.

That is almost twice as many as any other Arsenal player, with Declan Rice the next on 23, and Odegaard will be expected to pull the strings once more on Saturday.

Martin Odegaard makes it look easy pic.twitter.com/rl0ftAGz9H

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 16, 2025

Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins

Watkins has been involved in 98 goals (68 goals, 30 assists) in 167 Premier League games, with only Gabriel Agbonlahor reaching triple figures for Villa in the competition (108).

The Villa forward has also only scored more top-flight goals against Brighton (seven) than against Arsenal (5), with three of his five against the Gunners coming at the Emirates Stadium.

MATCH PREDICTION – ARSENAL WIN

Arsenal are the heavy favourites for victory on Saturday, despite their recent struggles against Emery's side.

Indeed, Villa have won five of their last 10 Premier League meetings with Arsenal (L5), as many as they had in their previous 46 against the Gunners (D14 L27).

Emery's visitors were 2-0 winners in this exact fixture last season, too, but Arsenal have not lost consecutive home league games against Villa since their first two Premier League meetings back in 1992-93 and 1993-94.

That loss last April to Villa was Arsenal's only defeat across their previous 13 home games in the Premier League, last managing a longer run when going 16 without defeat under Emery back in the 2018-19 season.

A draw should also be off the cards given none of the last 18 meetings between Arsenal and Villa in this competition have ended level.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Arsenal win – 61.2%

Draw – 20.5%

Aston Villa win – 18.4%