Arsenal target wounded Villa as Spurs seek return on £300m splurge

Arsenal will look to pile more misery on Aston Villa when they travel to Villa Park on Monday, while Tottenham Hotspur will hope their £300m summer spending begins to yield results when Newcastle United visit north London.

 

Elsewhere, new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola will make his home debut against Nottingham Forest, while Manchester United will aim to recover from their disappointing opening-weekend defeat when Ipswich Town visit Old Trafford.

 

Arsenal’s new signing, Ezri Konsa, could make his debut against his former club, although he is likely to receive a hostile reception from the Villa supporters.

 

Konsa is among a number of high-profile departures that have weakened Unai Emery’s squad following a campaign in which Villa won the Europa League and finished fourth in the Premier League.

 

Morgan Rogers joined Chelsea for £117m, while Youri Tielemans moved to Manchester United and Lucas Digne departed for Paris Saint-Germain.

 

Ollie Watkins and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez could also leave before the transfer window closes.

 

Villa endured a disastrous start to the season last weekend, going 4-0 down to Brighton inside 31 minutes.

 

They now face an Arsenal side full of confidence after Mikel Arteta’s team defeated Manchester City and Coventry 3-0 to win the Community Shield and begin their title defence in impressive fashion.

 

Arsenal’s squad depth could mean Konsa has to wait for his opportunity, despite the long-term injury suffered by William Saliba.

 

Villa captain John McGinn, however, remains optimistic about the club’s prospects as long as Emery stays in charge.

 

“I’m still positive about the season but we need to make sure we keep hold of the manager,” McGinn told the Stick to Football podcast. “If we lose him, it’s a different story.”

 

Spurs under pressure

 

Tottenham supporters have long waited for the club to spend heavily in the transfer market, but their excitement was dampened by last weekend’s 3-0 defeat by Brentford.

 

Since then, Spurs have added Manchester City duo Savio and Omar Marmoush, with the combined fees potentially approaching £150m.

 

Savio’s reported £75m price tag has attracted criticism after he struggled to establish himself at City, but Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi believes the Brazilian can help change the club’s fortunes following consecutive 17th-place finishes.

 

“I think his biggest step and biggest improvement is to increase the number of goals because as qualities, I think he is one of the best wingers, but the best wingers score many goals,” De Zerbi said after Savio scored on his debut against Charlton in the League Cup on Wednesday.

 

“Last season we suffered too much because also the number of goals were not enough to compete for nothing more than that (17th) position.”

 

Iraola faces Anfield test

 

Liverpool were forced to rely on a 99th-minute penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai to earn a 2-2 draw at Newcastle in Iraola’s first match in charge.

 

The Reds showed signs of struggling to adapt to Iraola’s high-intensity pressing style, with Newcastle twice exploiting counter-attacks to score.

 

Forest have won at Anfield in each of the past two seasons, but Iraola is hoping for a memorable first competitive home match as Liverpool manager.

 

“I think it’s going to be emotional and I think it has to be like this. It is a special place,” the Spaniard said.

 

“I’ve had to fight a lot to arrive to this place and I hope everything goes well and I can enjoy also the game.”

 

Premier League fixtures

 

Friday

Crystal Palace v Manchester City — 7:00pm

 

Saturday

Liverpool v Nottingham Forest — 11:30am

Coventry v Hull — 2:00pm

Bournemouth v Everton — 2:00pm

Tottenham v Newcastle — 4:30pm

 

Sunday

Leeds v Brentford — 1:00pm

Sunderland v Fulham — 1:00pm

Chelsea v Brighton — 1:00pm

Manchester United v Ipswich — 3:30pm

 

Monday

Aston Villa v Arsenal — 7:00pm