William Saliba has been a key player for Arsenal this season, helping them to secure the best defensive record in the Premier League, but the Frenchman could now be sidelined through injury

Prince William is a huge Aston Villa fan, attending many of their games and he has even been a regular face at Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground - having chats with boss Unai Emery

Arsenal have come under fire recently after set-piece coach Nicolas Jover's increasingly active role on the touchline, but Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has no issue with the vocal presence of his own coach Austin MacPhee

Aston Villa head to Arsenal looking for a fourth-straight win

Newcastle are benefitting from ‘Mad Dog’s’ odd-couple relationship with Eddie Howe and his attention to detail Name the assistant manager noted for clashing with, among several others, Mikel Arteta, Jürgen Klopp and Unai Emery on Premier League touchlines and, occasionally, in stadium tunnels? Given quiz questions rarely come much easier there are no prizes for supplying the correct answer: Newcastle’s Jason Tindall. Continue reading...

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Manager meets the media ahead of Emirates Stadium trip

Aston Villa interim manager Shaun Goater says he wants the job on a permanent basis and is "enjoying" leading the team.

Forward’s coaches share what makes the former Arsenal youth so special as he returns to the Emirates with new club The memories will surely come flooding back for Donyell Malen. Perhaps in the minutes before arriving at the Emirates Stadium. Maybe en route if Aston Villa’s team bus bypasses St Albans, where he lived in an apartment, a few miles up the road from Arsenal’s training base in Hertfordshire. On Saturday the forward, Villa’s new signing from Borussia Dortmund, could make his Premier League debut at the club where he spent two years as a youngster. He left Ajax for London at 16 but returned aged 18 to the Netherlands with their rivals PSV Eindhoven, and there Malen began to realise his potential. Malen excelled during six months with Jong PSV, outscoring Cody Gakpo to finish the 2017-18 season as the under-23s’ top goalscorer and making his first-team Eredivisie debut in the February of a title-winning campaign. “He was at Arsenal doing his thing, a good player but not using all his skills,” says Twan Scheepers, now the Jong PSV manager, who worked closely with Malen as an individual attacking coach and the assistant manager. Continue reading...

Donyell Malen became Aston Villa’s first signing of the January transfer window on Tuesday, arriving from Borussia Dortmund. The Holland international was welcomed to Bodymoor Heath, being shown around Villa’s state-of-the-art facilities, signing paperwork, posing for photographs with Unai Emery, Monchi and Damian Vidagany and sitting down for his first interview for the club.  The exciting forward then trained with his new teammates for the first time ahead of this weekend’s trip to Arsenal – a game in which he could make his debut in claret and blue. View images from Malen’s first few days as a Villan below…Win a Donyell Malen shirt!Enter Now

Aston Villa. A club which has seen over 1,000 individuals pull on the distinctive claret and blue shirt. A club which has seen countless players create unforgettable moments which will be cherished forever. As part of our 150th anniversary celebrations, we are catching up with a host of former Villans, and asking them to recall their favourite moment from their time at Villa Park. It could be a goal, a match, or the moment they signed. Whichever memory stands out to them, while they were representing our famous club.  Our series continues with midfield maestro Mark Draper (Legacy Number: 706). Arriving at Villa Park in the summer of 1995, Draper went on to make 158 appearances in claret and blue over the course of five years, netting 11 goals and lifting one major trophy.  That trophy, coming at the end of his very first season as a Villan, was the League Cup at Wembley, on March 24, 1996.  Having navigated a tricky semi-final against Arsenal, after falling 2-0 down in the first leg, Brian Little's side descended on the capital for a showdown with Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United, the West Yorkshire outfit booking their place in the final with a thumping 5-1 aggregate victory over Birmingham City.  Their enjoyment was quickly halted, however, when they bumped into Villa at Wembley, as Draper recalls. Savo Milošević put the Villans ahead after 20 minutes, before Ian Taylor gave them breathing space within 10 minutes of the interval. Dwight Yorke's late strike, on his way to netting 25 goals in all competitions that season, put the cherry on the cake for Little's men, placing a fifth League Cup in the trophy cabinet.  An integral member of that squad, having arrived in B6 merely months prior, Draper would go on to make 49 appearances for the club that campaign, netting five goals. We caught up with him recently, as he discussed his 'best day in football'.  Here is My Villa Moment, in Mark Draper's own words… My main memory would be the 1996 League Cup Final, against Leeds. We’d had a fantastic season all round. We were up there in the league, still in the FA Cup, and got to Wembley after a tough two-legged game against Arsenal. We were 2-0 down at Highbury, and came back to 2-2, and then drew 0-0 at home to go through on away goals. To go to Wembley in my first year at Villa was amazing, and then to win it – and win it comfortably – against Leeds, made it an amazing day. I’d been fortunate enough to play at Wembley three times before, but not in a major cup final. I’d played in play-off games, but went there for a major cup final in my first season at Villa. We were flying at the time. I just remember, and I still talk about it now with the lads, at games, we were so confident in how we were playing, and I just don’t think there was any thought of getting beat whatsoever. I think some of the lads had played at Wembley a couple of years before, but there were quite a few lads playing in their first cup final, and we just played as we had been doing every other week – with confidence. We got off to a great start, with Savo scoring a great goal. I always rated Savo. I thought he was an unbelievable player, and I wished he’d have stayed a bit longer, to be honest. We were just comfortable. We bossed the game from start to finish, and 3-0 didn’t really flatter us. It’s nice to be at Wembley playing, 3-0 up so you can properly enjoy the occasion rather than it being tense. I had all my family and friends there. It was an amazing day all round. I was always confident of being able to play at the top level, but it was in the Third Division where I first made my debut, in 1988. I’m showing my age now! At the time, I’d been at Notts County since I was nine years old, and didn’t really think too much more than getting in Notts County’s first team and being a regular. I’d been in Notts County’s team for four or five years, and we’d got back-to-back promotions with Neil Warnock. I played in the old First Division in 1991/92 and had a taste for it, and then I thought I could play at the top level. I ended up going to Leicester a couple of years later. I struggled at Leicester, but even that year, I still thought that was the level I wanted to play at. After that first year, 91/92, I’d have been 21. My ambitions were to play in the Premier League. Fortunately, Brian, who’d bought me at Leicester, took me to Villa as well."There aren’t that many players across the whole of professional football who win major trophies. It’s something you can look back on with pride for the rest of your life." - null There aren’t that many players across the whole of professional football who win major trophies. It’s something you can look back on with pride for the rest of your life. Especially at a massive club like Villa. Villa unfortunately haven’t won anything since, and that shows you just how hard it is to win a major trophy. To win one in your career is a fantastic achievement – something I’m very proud of. I was lucky enough to have a couple of promotions with Notts County, which were great days at my hometown club, and getting picked for the England squad was a great moment. But this was the best day of my footballing life. As a kid, you dream of playing at Wembley. All kids do. To actually go there with Villa and win, and win comfortably, that was my best day in football."This was the best day of my footballing life." - null

A look at the best Premier League goals from Arsenal vs Aston Villa including screamers from Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins.

Newcastle chase a perfect 10, Chelsea seek a reliable No 9 and Southampton just want to get beyond six If Arsenal’s books for the January window look closed, a meeting with Aston Villa casts forward thoughts to summer business. During Wednesday’s north London derby it was not difficult to wonder how much greater the margin of victory might have been with either Ollie Watkins or Jhon Durán leading the Gunners frontline. If Martin Zubimendi is an expected summer arrival, adding to an already packed midfield, where does a forward come in? Gabriel Jesus’s knee injury delays his possible sale while increasing the need for reinforcements. Villa have been busy, with Donyell Malen coming in from Dortmund and Jaden Philogene sold to Ipswich. Monchi, Villa’s president of football operations, has never been shy of selling players to bring in further talent. Watkins, who is 29, was on the mark at Everton for his first goal of 2025. Duran, 21, unused at Goodison after suspension, may be Arsenal’s next-best option to the imperious, and probably far too expensive, Alexander Isak. John Brewin Continue reading...

Under-18s match report from Whitley Park