News Review - Arsenal, Aston Villa
Arsenal:
Arsenal's manager does not intend to make any new signings in the winter transfer window.
Arsene Wenger said that his policy is to stick to the squad he already has and Arsenal will not be in the search of any new players in January. The French manager of Arsenal added that he wants to keep working with these players and is content with the progress
they are making.
Arsenal managed to seal a place in the Carling Cup semi-finals by defeating Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night. As current Carling Cup holders Manchester United were defeated, Arsenal are now the hot favourites to claim the League Cup and thus end their trophy
drought of five years. Gunners’ chances of winning the title have increased further after they were drawn to League One side Ipswich Town in the double legged semi-final of Carling Cup.
In Barclays Premier League, Arsenal are sitting in third spot sharing equal points with Premier League title holders’ Chelsea and are two points less than Manchester United. Arsenal have played fifteen Premier League fixtures, managing to bag only 29 points.
They have the best away form in Premier League as they have won all of their last five away matches. Gunners’ last fixture was also away against Aston Villa, which they won by four goals to nil.
However, Arsenal’s home form is not as good as their away form. They were defeated three times at Emirates so far in this season. Two of Premier League's newly promoted teams; Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion have also managed to earn all three
points at Emirates. Moreover, Arsenal’s fiercest rivals and Premier League’s ‘Comeback Kings’, Tottenham Hotspur also defeated Arsene Wenger’s men at Emirates two weeks ago.
Arsenal’s next match is against Fulham on Saturday at Emirates. They will go in this match trying to avoid their third consecutive home defeat. A win will see them top the Premier League table for a day at least.
Aston Villa:
The young starlet of Aston Villa, Starlet Ciaran Clark has claimed that he is happy with his decision of snubbing England after deciding to pursue his International football career with the Republic of Ireland.
The 21-year-old midfielder represented England at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 but now he has decided to play for Ireland. Clark, who has been in good form for Aston Villa and even scored a brace against Arsenal last weekend, is hoping to make his senior
debut for Ireland next March against Macedonia.
Clark said, "I've made my decision, I am Irish. I've played for England in the younger age groups but the time has come and I've decided to play for Ireland if selected. All my family is based in Ireland. If selected I'm sure I will have so much support
over there. I am just looking forward to the next international game now as I was injured for the last one but there are a lot of games before then for Villa."
Aston Villa have not been in good form in all the competitions. At the start of the season, Villa crashed out of Europa League. Last night, they were defeated by their fierce rivals, Birmingham City in the quarter finals of Carling Cup.
Villa currently have one of the most depleted squads in Barclays Premier League following injuries to their key players. Although, Villa signed Robert Pires two weeks ago but still their key players are missing from the first team action.
Aston Villa are currently fourteenth in the Premier League table with seventeen points to their name out of 15 matches.
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