Evening all, and welcome to Aston Villa v Arsenal!

This fixture in 1935, a record that still stands.

The problem for Villa - ok, one of various problems for Villa - is how they score. They've got three in eight since the resumption and Samatta, their centre-forward, hasn't notched in 11. It doesn't look good.

Dean Smith wants Villa to show the confidence they've showed lately, and said that the team were watching Watford together. They'll have enjoyed it, and even a point tonight would be huge for them, because there's fair chance that West Ham won't be the most intense of opponents on Sunday.

Arteta is convinced his team are concentrated and focused - Arsenal still have a chance of making Europe through the league. He knows Villa will be fighting.

Looking at that Arsenal back three, there's potential joy to be had for Villa. They lack a bit of pace on the outside, but there's a fair bit of ingenuity, and if the full-backs can get forward, balls into the box will cause problems.

So, looking at the bottom of the table, Watford have 34 points from 37 games, Villa have 31 from 36 and Bournemouth have 31 from 37. All clubs have a goal difference of -27, but Villa have just moved up a spot because they've scored most. They're away to West Ham on Sunday, while Watford are away to Arsenal and Bournemouth are away to Everton. I guess you'd back Watford to stay up because they've got points on the board, but if Villa can get a win tonight or at the weekend, that'll probably be enough.

Elsewhere, Man City are 3-0 up at Watford. You can follow along with that here:

The Premier League deserves Villa Park and Villa Park deserves the Premier League.

Arteta is also getting the most out of Pierre-Emerick-Aubameyang and Dani Ceballos, nor is he scared to play young players, who've not let him down. And at the back, he's got Kieran Tierney fit, which Emery never had, and his safety in nunbers approach in the middle is working fairly well.

To take the second question first, not quite. On another day, they lose to Liverpool handily, and were probably an early goal away from a thrashing against City. But Arteta has instilled a work ethic and steel, as well as some basic principles of play. Under Unai Emery, personnel and formation changed constantly, and though Arteta has done the former a lot because corona demands it, since settling on the 3-4-3 as the best way of maximising strength and hiding weaknesses, he's stuck with it. And what he wants from the players never changes.

So why are Arsenal good again? Are Arsenal good again?

The height of Arsenal.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are without the injured Mustafi - Holding, who replaced him at the weekend, replaces him tonight too. Also left out are Tierney, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles and Pepe - replacing them are Kolasinac, Cedric, Torriera, Saka and Nketiah.

Not unsurprisingly, Villa are unchanged from last week's soul-crushing draw with Everton. But for Theo Walcott's late equaliser, they'd be close to safe, but here we are.

Allow me to jot these down before we indulge in some reflection.

Let us have some teams, what?

This is an absolutely monstrous game. Villa are running out of road in their bid to stay in "THIS LEAGUE", but the phenomenal uselessness of the teams around them means they still have a shot - it's entirely feasible that a win tonight would get it done.

Meanwhile, and after a decade of being a punchline, Arsenal finally look like they're on the right track. After losing their first post-lockdown game to Brighton in classically hilarious style, they've won at Wolves sand been the better side in losing a derby, before beating Liverpool and Manchester City in the same week. You wouldn't trust them not to embarrass themselves tonight, but you don't expect them to, which tells you what a good job Mikel Arteta is doing.