League-leading Arsenal hosts third-place Aston Villa in London on Tuesday, Dec. 30, a crucial Premier League clash before the calendar flips to 2026. The match will mark the halfway point in the season for each team with Arsenal looking to get revenge for a last-gasp 2-1 loss suffered at Villa Park earlier in December.
‘I have a few ideas and things that we have to do better,’ Arsenal manager Miguel Arteta told reporters. ‘And it was quite cruel, as well, the way we lost it.’
Aston Villa has won 11 matches in a row – including eight in the Premier League – under manager Unai Emery and are very much in the title race, trailing Arsenal by three points and second-place Manchester City by one entering Tuesday.
How to watch Arsenal vs Aston Villa: Time, TV channel, live stream
Time: 3:15 p.m. ET
TV channel: NBC
Live stream: Peacock
Watch Arsenal-Aston Villa on Peacock!
Gabriel Jesus goal! Arsenal 4, Aston Villa 0
Minutes after replacing Viktor Gyökeres, Gabriel Jesus bent a shot past a helpless Emi Martinez for Arsenal’s fourth goal, turning this one into a laugher in North London.
Leandro Trossard goal! Arsenal 3, Aston Villa 0
Arsenal looks to have clinched three points with Leandro Trossard firing home from the edge of the penalty area after a frantic passage of play in the 69th minute.
A VAR check confirmed that two different Arsenal players were not offside in the buildup, delaying the official celebrations inside the Emirates Stadium.
Martin Zubimendi goal! Arsenal 2, Aston Villa 0
Minutes after going ahead on Gabriel’s goal, Martin Zubimendi poked home another, getting on the end of a masterful through ball from Martin Odegaard.
Aston Villa is losing the plot in the first 10 minutes of the second half, succumbing to Arsenal’s high press with a handful of bad giveaways.
Gabriel goal! Arsenal 1, Aston Villa 0
Who else but Gabriel? Making his full return from injury, Arsenal’s mighty central defender scored from a corner kick just minutes into the second half to give the Gunners a 1-0 lead.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez wanted a foul called on Gabriel, who had positioned himself in front of the goalkeeper as the ball came in from Bukayo Saka’s corner, but a VAR check confirmed the goal.
James McGinn on for Villa to start second half
Aston Villa made a substitution to begin the second half, bringing on James McGinn for Amadou Onana, who picked up a knock before the break.
Halftime: Arsenal 0, Aston Villa 0
Scoreless after 45 minutes in London, with Aston Villa looking the more likely to score on the counter attack.
Arsenal’s Mikel Merino and Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers were each shown a yellow card in the final minutes of the half. Merino had a rough first half stepping into the midfield for the injured Declan Rice, struggling to deal with Villa’s 6-foot-5 Amadou Onana.
Dua Lipa in the house, Arsenal-Villa scoreless
Arsenal have enjoyed the majority of possession in the first 35 minutes, but Villa has created a pair of good chances. Leandro Trossard has looked lively on the left wing for the league-leading Gunners, who enter the match three points ahead of third-placed Villa.
Dua Lipa is in attendance at the Emirates. Is the worldwide icon a good luck charm? She was also in the house for Arsenal’s famous 3-0 win over Real Madrid in last season’s Champions League quarterfinals.
Arsenal vs Aston Villa underway in London
The showdown at the Emirates Stadium has kicked off with Arsenal pressing the visitors high in the first five minutes. Gabriel returns to start alongside William Saliba after several weeks on the shelf.
Arsenal vs Aston Villa lineups
Declan Rice injury for Arsenal
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice is expected to miss Tuesday’s match against Aston Villa after sustaining a knee injury on Saturday in a win over Brighton, according to multiple reports Rice played out-of-position at right back in that game and seems to have picked up a knock but played the full 90 minutes.
Regarded as one of the top midfielders in the world, Rice could be replaced by Mikel Merino or Christian Nørgaard in the lineup at the Emirates Stadium. Signed over the summer, Nørgaard has featured sparingly in his first season with Arsenal.
Arsenal vs. Aston Villa prediction, odds
Martin Odegaard on ‘unusual’ rematch vs. Aston Villa
A Premier League scheduling quirk has Arsenal and Aston Villa facing each other for the second time in less than a month, and Gunners captain Martin Odegaard says his team will use the recent defeat as ‘motivation.’
“We played Aston Villa a few weeks ago and it’s unusual to play a team twice so close together in the league. It feels more like a two-legged Champions League or cup tie, so this gives us a good chance to face them again soon after the defeat at Villa Park.” Odegaard said in the captain’s notes of Arsenal’s matchday program.
“We can use that as motivation. We feel like we could have won that away game & now we’ve got the opportunity to show that tonight. We know the quality they have & we saw that in the first game, but as always, we focus on ourselves.”
Premier League games today
Burnley vs. Newcastle, 2:30 p.m. ET – Peacock
Chelsea vs. Bournemouth, 2:30 p.m. – USA Network
Nottingham Forest vs. Everton, 2:30 p.m. – Peacock
West Ham vs. Brighton & Hove, 2:30 p.m. – Peacock
Arsenal vs. Aston Villa, 3:15 p.m. – NBCSN / Peacock
Manchester United vs. Wolves, 3:15 p.m. – Peacock
Premier League standings
(Entering Tuesday, Dec. 30)
Arsenal – 42 points
Manchester City – 40
Aston Villa – 39
Liverpool – 32
Chelsea – 29 (+11 goal difference)
Manchester United – 29 (+4 GD)