Preview: Aston Villa vs. Arsenal

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert will be determined to pull his side away from the relegation zone this weekend when they go up against Arsenal at Villa Park.

The Midlands outfit were dropped into the bottom three of the Premier League table following a heavy 5-0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend.

Lambert will be unable to instruct his team from the touchline against the Gunners after he was hit with a one-match ban for blasting the match officials when an unjustified penalty was awarded to City during the game.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will urge his players to snatch all three points this weekend in order to edge closer to the top four of the table and the Frenchman is likely to start Jack Wilshere following his goal in the Gunners' 2-0 win over Montpellier in the Champions League last night.

Meanwhile, Lambert is likely to start Christian Benteke up front with Gabriel Agbonlahor, Stephen Ireland and Andreas Weimann providing support.

Recent form:

Aston Villa: LDWLL

Arsenal: LWLDW

Possible lineups:

Aston Villa: Guzan; Stevens, Vlaar, Clark, Lowton; Bannan, Westwood; Agbonlahor, Ireland, Weimann; Benteke

Arsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen; Wilshere, Arteta, Cazorla; Walcott, Giroud, Podolski

Sports Mole says: 0-2