Aston Villa vs. Arsenal: Head-to-head record and past meetings before Premier League clash

Title favourites Arsenal and high-flying Aston Villa both find themselves on the Premier League podium ahead of Saturday's early kickoff at Villa Park, in gameweek 15 of the 2025-26 season.

The Gunners entered Wednesday's battle with Brentford under pressure to respond to Manchester City's absorbing 5-4 victory over Fulham the night before, and respond Mikel Arteta's men did.

Yet another Mikel Merino header and a late Bukayo Saka strike propelled the North London outfit to a 2-0 win in that capital derby, allowing them to restore their five-point lead over Man City at the top of the Premier League table.

Six points behind are Unai Emery's Aston Villa, who made it six triumphs in a row in all competitions with a sensational 4-3 success over Brighton & Hove Albion, coming from two goals to down to sink the Seagulls on the South Coast.

Ahead of Saturday's 12.30pm kickoff, Sports Mole looks at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between Arsenal and Aston Villa.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 205

Aston Villa wins: 71

Draws: 46

Arsenal wins: 88

First locking horns in a competitive setting 120 years ago - when Arsenal were prefixed by Woolwich - the two outfits have now clashed a total of 205 times, and the Gunners edge the wins counter with 88 successes compared to Aston Villa's 71.

The most recent of those victories for Arsenal saw Thomas Partey and Leandro Trossard strike at Villa Park in August 2024, but just five months later, Mikel Arteta's men blew a 2-0 lead in a disheartening 2-2 stalemate on Emirates soil.

Meanwhile, of those triumphs for the West Midlands side came in the 2023-24 campaign, when they were the only team to do the double over the North London giants, earning Unai Emery two slices of revenge against the club that sacked him in 2019.

The Lions firstly prevailed 1-0 on home soil courtesy of a John McGinn effort, before silencing the Emirates around Easter time through Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins, hammering the final nail into Arsenal's title coffin in the process.

Courtesy of their pair of successes in 2023-24, Aston Villa have now succeeded in five of their last 11 Premier League matches with Arsenal and have already strung together a three-match winning sequence over the Gunners in this decade, prevailing in July 2020, November 2020 and February 2021 during the COVID-19 era.

Those three successes and the 2023-24 double come either side of a four-match winning sequence for Arsenal, though, including an unforgettable 4-2 triumph at Villa Park in February 2023, where ex-Gunners goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez scored one of the most unfortunate own goals the Premier League has seen.

Martinez's inadvertent header that day preceded the Argentine coming up for a corner and leaving his goal exposed for Gabriel Martinelli to tap into, as the Brazilian assured Arsenal of their 14th Premier League win at Villa Park before a record 15th in 2024, their most at a single away venue in the Premier League.

When it comes to notable Emirates meetings, Aston Villa had the honour of being Arsenal's first Premier League opponents at their current stadium in 2006, when they were on the verge of spoiling the North London party before Gilberto Silva's late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

All-time Arsenal top scorer Thierry Henry, who leads the individual charts in this fixture with 12, followed by more ex-Gunners strikers in Olivier Giroud (eight), Tony Woodcock (seven) and Ian Wright (seven).