Paul Merson makes 'entertaining' prediction for Aston Villa vs Arsenal

Aston Villa host Arsenal in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off at Villa Park.

Both sides are looking to bounce back from defeats – Villa at West Ham United last weekend and the Gunners against title-chasing Liverpool. Crucially, Villa haven’t played since last Sunday while it’s a quick turnaround for Arsenal, with the Liverpool match taking place on Wednesday night.

Both sides have entertained in recent weeks, and former Villa winger Paul Merson is expecting that to be the case again.

“Arsenal played very well in the first half against Liverpool and could've probably won the game if Martin Odegaard had managed to score past Alisson Becker. That said, this is a tough game for Arsenal, as Aston Villa are also in good form heading into the game,” said Merson in his weekly predictions for sportskeeda.

“If you had looked at this game two weeks ago, it would've been easy to predict an Arsenal win. However, a lot has happened in the past two weeks, so this game might not prove to be as straightforward for Mikel Arteta and co.

“I think there will be a lot of goals in this and if Arsenal manage to not get beat, it will still be a good result for them in terms of their top-four hopes. A draw wouldn't be the worst result in the world, so I think these two sides will cancel each other out in an entertaining game.”

Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal