Blame PSR, blame the solar eclipse, blame the club\u2019s transfer strategy\u2026 regardless, it\u2019s exactly what wasn\u2019t needed ahead of the visit of reigning champions Arsenal. Then again, a Villa win over the Gunners would more than make amends for that south coast horror show.<\/p>\n
After sweeping aside a clearly outclassed Coventry side, Arsenal themselves will be looking to avenge a 2-1 defeat in last season\u2019s corresponding fixture at Villa Park.<\/p>\n
So, who\u2019s winning this time? Our tipster James Walters<\/a> weighs in with his tidy Aston Villa v Arsenal<\/a> Bet Builder. His selections include player picks covered by Paddy\u2019s Super Sub offer<\/a>, too, huzzah!<\/p>\n Aston Villa v Arsenal Bet Builder<\/a> tips<\/p>\n Arsenal to win A Bet Builder with these selections pays approximately 14\/1\u00a0with Paddy Power.\u00a0CLICK OR TAP HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP<\/a><\/p>\n WHEN:\u00a0Monday, 31st August 2026 @ 8pm Arsenal to win<\/p>\n Arsenal breezed past Coventry in their Premier League opener \u2013 as they should have done \u2013 and you\u2019d be brave to back against the Gunners on Monday night (and in the title race this season).<\/p>\n Arteta\u2019s men have already lifted the Community Shield and they\u2019ll fancy their chances of scooping more silverware this time out.<\/p>\n Arsenal are solid at the back \u2013 and former Villa man Ezri Konsa improves them in William Saliba\u2019s absence through injury \u2013 and they\u2019re relentless going forward. If the Gunners don\u2019t break you down in open play, they\u2019ll wear you down from set pieces.<\/p>\n Villa had a horrible start to the campaign last week against Brighton, and it\u2019s been a turbulent couple of months with Emery losing the spine of his team in Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Konsa, with Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez also heading for the exit.<\/p>\n The Villa side we saw against Brighton won\u2019t be a true reflection of their season, and they\u2019ll improve, but it\u2019s hard to see Emery\u2019s side bouncing back against the title favourites. We\u2019re on an Arsenal win.<\/p>\n Aston Villa goalkeeper to make 3 or more saves<\/p>\n Emi Martinez is out of the picture, but whether it\u2019s Marco Bizot or Emery\u2019s new signing Zion Suzuki, the Villa goalkeeper will be busy on Monday night.<\/p>\n Bizot was in goal for the Brighton defeat, and he made three saves as Villa gave up 17 shots, with six of them going on target.<\/p>\n Arsenal will have more of the ball and they\u2019ll be probing the Villa defence. Expect to see the Gunners penning Emery\u2019s men in as they move the ball from side to side before making the killer pass.<\/p>\n Arsenal had 19 shots and six on target against Coventry, so we\u2019re keen on the Aston Villa goalkeeper to make 3 or more saves.<\/p>\n Over 4.5 Arsenal corners<\/p>\n Arsenal were the corner kings last season, with Arteta\u2019s men utilising them brilliantly to score a record 19 Premier League goals.<\/p>\n The Gunners had eight corners against Coventry and as we\u2019re expecting Arsenal to pen Villa in, it\u2019ll likely lead to plenty of shots, deflections and corners.<\/p>\n The north London side averaged 5.7 corners per game last season and that trend should continue this campaign. Over 4.5 Arsenal corners on Monday night is the play.<\/p>\n We may only be in the second week of the Premier League, but this is a pretty crucial game for both sides.<\/p>\n A heavy defeat for Villa piles the pressure on Emery\u2019s already-deflated side, while a win will help forget about the Brighton defeat, and the Villans can draw a line through last weekend\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n Arsenal will be well aware that a victory would be a statement that Arteta\u2019s side have improved from last season and they\u2019re fully prepared to defend their title.<\/p>\n Given that, we like over 3.5 cards. Villa\u2019s game at Brighton saw six cards given out and there were still two yellows in Arsenal\u2019s routine win against Coventry.<\/p>\n Emery will have his Villa team fired up to face his former side, so expect plenty of tackles flying in.<\/p>\n Matty Cash to commit 1 or more fouls<\/p>\n When we talk about making a tasty challenge, Villa\u2019s Matty Cash is near the top of the list in that department.<\/p>\n He\u2019s a no-messing defender and although he likes to fly forward to help Villa attack, the right-back can\u2019t resist a big tackle.<\/p>\n The Poland international will be up against Arsenal\u2019s new man Christos Tzolis, who was fouled twice last week while looking lively on his league debut for the Gunners.<\/p>\n Cash committed two fouls and made two tackles against Brighton and it won\u2019t be an easy task against Tzolis, who likes to run at his man before cutting inside and getting an effort off. We\u2019re on Cash to commit 1 or more fouls.<\/p>\n John McGinn to be fouled 2 or more times<\/p>\n It was a horrible day for Villa at Brighton and their skipper John McGinn tried his best on the right wing to get them up the pitch by taking his man on and drawing savvy fouls.<\/p>\n McGinn was fouled four times last weekend and he\u2019ll likely be utilising similar tactics against Arsenal to give the Villa defence a bit of rest.<\/p>\n The Scottish midfielder will be aiming to win a few free kicks on the right side of the park. Given the fact that he was fouled an average of 1.6 times per game in the league last season, McGinn to be fouled 2 or more times is a nice pick to wrap up our Bet Builder.<\/p>\n Aston Villa v Arsenal tips<\/p>\n Arsenal to win A Bet Builder with these selections pays approximately 14\/1\u00a0with Paddy Power.\u00a0CLICK OR TAP HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP<\/a><\/p>\n *All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.<\/p>\n READ MORETap here for PP.com\u2019s latest football odds<\/a>The Paddy Power Guide To Safer Gambling \u2013 Everything You Need To Know<\/a>
Aston Villa goalkeeper to make 3 or more saves
Over 4.5 Arsenal corners
Over 3.5 cards
Matty Cash to commit 1 or more fouls
John McGinn to be fouled 2 or more times<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/992x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
WHERE:\u00a0Villa Park, Birmingham
TV:\u00a0Sky Sports Main Event<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788212090_419_6785701_PP_SOS_2627_Generosity_991x624.jpg\")
<\/a>Over 3.5 cards<\/p>\n
Aston Villa goalkeeper to make 3 or more saves
Over 4.5 Arsenal corners
Over 3.5 cards
Matty Cash to commit 1 or more fouls
John McGinn to be fouled 2 or more times<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788212091_881_6784900_SoS_Woodwork-Banners-1430x194-1-1024x139.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our tipster reckons it could be a long night for Emery\u2019s men\u2026 To quote Will from the Inbetweeners\u2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-610549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}