Arsenal return to Premier League action on Sunday after recording a decent enough result in the Champions League in midweek.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, fresh from their 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich, will be hosting Unai Emery’s Villans at the Emirates Stadium.
Table-topping Arsenal will be hoping to maintain momentum at the top of the table, with both Liverpool and Manchester City snapping at their heels.
Meanwhile, Villa will be eager to get back into the top four after playing out a 3-3 draw with Brentford last Saturday.
This allowed top-four rivals Tottenham to leapfrog them following their win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern provided a moment of controversy in the shape of Bukayo Saka’s late penalty call.
Saka appeared to be clattered by Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, but referee Glenn Nyberg didn’t given the decision before VAR backed him up as well.
The Arsenal star was unhappy with the referee’s decision, and in the aftermath of the draw, it proved a talking point amid Gunners fans, rivals and pundits.
For instance, Jamie Carragher was among those to praise the decision from the referee, while Micah Richards believed Saka deserved the penalty.
How is Arsenal star Bukayo Saka feeling ahead of Aston Villa clash?
However, Mikel Arteta sought to draw a line under the incident, insisting the 22-year-old is “fine” and raring to go against Villa.
On Friday, the Arsenal media team asked Arteta whether Saka had “calmed down after Tuesday night”.
The Gunners boss replied: “Yes, he looked fine this morning. He’s had 48 hours to think about it and it’s done.”
You can certainly see both sides of the argument with this incident but in the end, the referees did get it right.
On another day, Saka might well have got the call, but it wasn’t to be against Bayern. Now it’s in the past and we move on to Villa.
The “world-class” forward will be eager to keep Arsenal top of the table and take a step closer to the Premier League title amid fierce competition.
The post 'He looked fine': Mikel Arteta says 'world-class' Arsenal star is all good to go v Aston Villa tomorrow appeared first on TBR Football.