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Confirmed line-ups: Arsenal vs Aston Villa – Rice out, Timber returns

By on December 30, 2025

Jurrien Timber Mikel Arteta Arsenal

Arsenal can tighten their grip at the top of the table with a win over high-flying Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium this evening.

We head into the weekend fixtures holding a slender two point lead over Manchester City after beating Brighton 2-1 at the weekend.

Mikel Arteta has been dealt a major injury blow with the news that Declan Rice has been ruled out with a knee injury that he picked up on Saturday.

David Raya starts in goal once again for Arsenal while Gabriel returns to partner William Saliba in the middle of defence after making his return from injury off the bench on Saturday.

Jurrien Timber is also back in the starting eleven after missing the Brighton game while Piero Hincapie moves to left-back with Riccardo Calafiori still out.

Martin Zubimendi anchors the midfield with Martin Odegaard captaining the Gunners in the No.8 role. Mikel Merino fills in for Rice so Christian Norgaard and Eberechi Eze have to settle for places on the bench.

Bukayo Saka lines-up on the right wing with Leandro Trossard keeping his place on the left. Viktor Gyokeres leads the line up front with Kai Havertz returning to the bench after a lengthy injury absence.

These are the line-ups:

Arsenal

Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Merino, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard, Gyokeres.

Subs: Arrizabalaga, White, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Eze, Martinelli, Madueke, Havertz, Jesus.

Aston Villa

Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Lindelof, Digne; Onana, Tielemans; Sancho, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins.

Subs: Bizot, Wright, Maatsen, Garcia, Routh, Hemmings, McGinn, Malen, Jimoh-Aloba