Aston Villa are set to face league leaders Arsenal, with Unai Emery seeking to extend unbeaten home run and halt former club’s title hopes. Aston Villa currently boast an impressive record, winning their last 14 home league games, positioning themselves as genuine contenders for the Premier League title. The clash against Arsenal on Saturday evening will serve as a major test for their title aspirations, having maintained a positive start to the season and sitting third in the league table. Emery, former Arsenal manager, is also hopeful to pick a decisive victory over his ex-team after guiding his current side to a 1-0 victory against Manchester City. 
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa will face Arsenal in a much anticipated encounter – Getty image The scoreline, however, doesn’t fully capture the dominance of Villa in the match, as they limited City’s chances of scoring, while creating many for themselves. Emery’s tenure at Arsenal, though starting strongly with a 22-game unbeaten streak, ended disappointingly. Despite a significant investment in players like Nicolas Pepe, Arsenal missed out on Champions League qualification and suffered a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in the Europa League final. Now, back in the Premier League with Aston Villa, he aims to prove his mettle as a top manager. A victory against Arsenal would not only extend Villa’s strong home record but also provide a good revenge for the Spanish manager against his former club left on a rather sad note.
Aston Villa snatched a draw in the match following a late equaliser scored by Douglas Luiz in the 87th minute. Villa has now scored in all of the 19 games they have played under Emery, breaking the record for the longest consecutive scoring run any team has had from the start of a manager’s tenure in Premier League history. 
Emery has helped revitalize the club’s form, bringing them out of the relegation zone and giving them a place in Europa next season. Aston Villa will be hosting Fulham in their next Premier League match on April 25. 
Aston Villa was 3-2 down when Martinez decided to go to Arsenal’s box to try to covert the corner kick. Arsenal was able to win possession and the subsequent counter-attack allowed Gabriel Martinelli to roll the ball into an open goal to secure a 4-2 win. Commenting on Martinez’s decision to go to the box, Emery said; 
“Our game plan is, of course, quality really and on the pitch they have to take the decision. He decided in the last action to go to the corner offensively, but I don’t like it. But I told him nothing, before or after because in all my career I have never told our goalkeepers to do it and the statistical data is going against the teams that are going with the goalkeeper more than scoring any goals.”