Aston Villa will be without Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara for their visit to the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday due to multiple suspensions, following their yellow cards against Chelsea.
Aston Villa defender Matty Cash has started all 18 Premier League fixtures the team have played this season, scoring against Sunderland, Manchester City, and most recently Arsenal.
Cash has also started four of Villa’s seven games in the Europa League and League Cup, so it’s been a very busy season for the 28-year-old so far.
Yet the right-back will finally drop out of the starting lineup against Arsenal next Tuesday, due to suspension.
Cash picked up a yellow card in the first half of Villa’s match against Chelsea on Saturday, his fifth of the campaign. Boubacar Kamara then also picked up his fifth yellow later in the match.
Given we haven’t quite reached the stage where bookings are (effectively) wiped, that means they’ll now both serve a one-match ban in Villa’s next game, which happens to be against Mikel Arteta’s side.
That’s a boost for the Gunners, considering Cash’s goal in the reverse fixture, and the fact Unai Emery isn’t blessed with right-back options.
22-year-old Andres Garcia hasn’t played a minute this season, with centre-back Victor Lindelof or midfielder Lamare Bogarde generally operating at right-back on the rare occasions when Cash hasn’t started.
As for Kamara, the midfielder has started 15 of Villa’s 18 Premier League fixtures, including playing 90 minutes against Arsenal, and he provided an assist against the Gunners earlier this month.
Of course, Arsenal have problems of their own at the moment. Jurrien Timber missed Saturday’s game, as did Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera, leaving Declan Rice to play at right-back. Riccardo Calafiori was also injured on the other side on Saturday, further reducing Arsenal’s defensive options.
So whilst it’s nice that Villa will be at least two players down for next week’s game, it’s hardly a major advantage for Arsenal.
Villa will also be without Evann Guessand due to an AFCON call-up, but Guessand didn’t feature in the reverse fixture against Arsenal anyway.