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Showpiece Saturday preview: Arsenal v Aston Villa

By on May 29, 2015

Sigh.  Sepp Blatter once again crushed the hopes of football fans worldwide (including many even in Qatar) by winning his fifth term in office as FIFA president.  Perhaps FIFA’s best near-term shot at reform from within in the form of Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein proved to be an effort in vain.  Football fans again need a reminder of the good side of football — and fear not! This weekend provides three major cup finals as Arsenal take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup final, Barcelona seek the second stage of a treble in their Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, and Jurgen Klopp guns for glory in his final match in charge of Borussia Dortmund, the DFB Pokal final agains Wolfsburg.  First, we preview the FA Cup final, aiming to take your mind off Sepp Blatter and his cronies.  

<h3>FA Cup Final: Arsenal vs. Aston Villa</h3>
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Time: Saturday, 5:30pm UTC
Odds: Arsenal, 4/7; Aston Villa, 6/1

In their second consecutive FA Cup final, history may finally be on Arsenal’s side: they’ve won this title more times than any other team and Arsene Wenger looks to become the joint most prolific collector of the trophy this Saturday.  Wenger won the FA Cup with Arsenal three out of four years between 2002 and 2005, although history is hardly required to make clear the favorites this time around.  

Arsenal trounced Villa 5-0 in their most recent Premier League meeting and 3-0 in the opposite leg last September.  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mathieu Debuchy, and captain Mikel Arteta are all set to return from injury this weekend, welcome news for Arsenal fans considering The Gunners barely limped over the finish line in the Premier League.  Winless in their last three matches, Wenger’s men dominated possession but struggled mightily to put the ball in the back of the net. 

Nonetheless, it would still take a special performance from Villa to snatch the title from Arsenal’s jaws.  Tim Sherwood’s men can model their performance on a 3-1 away win over Arsenal from 2013, in which Villa employed a counter-attacking style of play to catch Arsenal on their heels.  While Christian Benteke scored a brace that day, Villa were the Premier League’s joint second lowest scorers this season and Benteke has only recently begun to recapture his goalscoring form.  The Lions only just escaped relegation as well, losing 6-1 to Southampton and 1-0 to relegated Burnley in their final two league matches of the season.

All in all, history both recent and timeworn bodes well for Arsenal.  But whatever the case, it won’t be easy for either side.  It’s an FA Cup final, so tensions will be high with a tight game potentially in the offing.  Last year against Hull City, Arsenal went down 2-0 only to turn it around and win in extra-time.  Before that the beat Manchester United on penalties in 2005, and Southampton 1-0 in 2003.  As long as they can avoid disaster, Arsenal should retain their title.

Photo credit: Ronnie Macdonald on Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.