2026-2027 Premier League: Aston Villa vs. Arsenal, Probable Lineups

A match with a Champions League feel wraps up the second matchday of the 2026-2027 Premier League season: At Villa Park in Birmingham, Aston Villa hosts Arsenal at 9 p.m. Italian time (8 p.m. local time), with the Gunners eager to maintain their perfect record and the Villans ready to bounce back from their devastating 0-4 loss to Brighton in the first round of England’s top flight. The match will be officiated by Australian Jared Gillett, who has been part of the Football Association—England’s national soccer federation—since 2019.

Aston Villa’s season got off to a very bad start: their only preseason wins came against lower-tier teams (Walsall, a selection from the Indonesian league, and Pathum United), while their matches against Porto, Real Sociedad, Bayern, and Borussia Mönchengladbach all ended in defeat. Further losses came in their first two official matches: a 2-1 loss to PSG in the UEFA Super Cup and the aforementioned 4-0 defeat at Brighton. An immediate turnaround is needed to avoid talk of a crisis already.

Arsenal, on the other hand, is coming off a blistering start: a 3-0 win over Manchester City in the Charity Shield, the English Super Cup, with goals from Calafiori, Havertz, and Odegaard; they posted the same result in their league opener against newly promoted Coventry City, with Havertz and Odegaard finding the net again alongside Bukayo Saka. Mikel Arteta’s team is determined to repeat that success in the league, backed by a solid squad bolstered by the additions of Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa (from Aston Villa), Piero Hincapié, and Christos Tzolis to strengthen every position.

Probable Lineups

ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Suzuki; Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Ruggeri; Bogarde, Kamara; Buendia, Barkley, McGinn; Jackson. Manager: Emery.

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Raya; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Odegaard, Tzolis; Havertz. Manager: Arteta.