Premier League preview: Aston Villa v Arsenal

Arsenal’s stuttering Premier League campaign could fall further into disarray when they travel to Aston Villa on Saturday without Cesc Fabregas.

Fabregas strained his hamstring midway through the second half of Arsenal’s shock 2-0 loss to Sporting Braga in the Champions League on Tuesday and will take no part in the match at Villa Park.

Emmanuel Eboue is also sidelined after suffering a knee injury during the Champions League fixture at Braga.

The Ivory Coast midfielder was felled in a poor tackle and damaged his medial ligament, a diagnosis which could keep him out of the side for several weeks.

The injuries could not have come at a worse time for Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who is under increased scrutiny at the Emirates as Arsenal suffers an untimely slump.

The Gunners have lost four of their past six matches across all competitions, including back-to-back European defeats and a 3-2 loss to north London rivals Tottenham last time out at domestic level.

The loss to Spurs was particularly stinging for Arsenal, who led 2-0 at half-time before meekly surrendering three goals to Harry Redknapp’s men.

It was their second successive defeat at home, after being stunned 1-0 by Newcastle United earlier in November, and prevented Arsenal from taking top spot on the league table.

Instead, the Gunners still trail Chelsea and Manchester United by two points, with Manchester City just one point behind in fourth.

Wenger admitted earlier in the week that he is worried a confidence crisis could take hold at the Emirates.

“That is the danger, that mentally it can become an issue,” he said.

“I don’t think it will be, but that is the fear you can have, that if it is repeated then it can become something which can block the team. We need to bounce back as quickly as possible.”

But bouncing back at Villa Park could be beyond Arsenal, especially given Aston Villa’s terrific record at home this season.

Villa have not lost on home soil since August, when they went down to Rapid Vienna in a Europa League play-off.

That was before manager Gerard Houllier took over at the club and since that time Aston Villa have secured points in every home fixture.

Most recently, Villa took a 2-0 lead against Manchester United before Federico Macheda and Nemanja Vidic tied the game with goals inside the final 10 minutes.

Before that, James Collins headed a late winner as Villa trumped Blackpool 3-2.

But Aston Villa went down 2-0 at Blackburn Rovers last time out, leaving them 13th on the table, and Houllier’s side has been ravaged by injury.

Marc Albrighton is the latest casualty, the classy 21-year-old midfielder ruled out for three weeks with appendicitis.

Albrighton joins 11 other first-team players on the sidelines, including John Carew, Emile Heskey, Steve Sidwell and Stiliyan Petrov.

But his absence opens the door for former Arsenal man Robert Pires, who may make his full Villa debut against his former club after appearing as a second-half substitute against Blackburn.

Ace striker Gabriel Agbonlahor shapes as the danger man for Aston Villa, having successfully completed his comeback from a six-week injury lay-off with a run at Ewood Park.

Marouane Chamakh leads Arsenal’s goal-scoring and will be called upon to test Villa stopper Brad Friedel, but look for midfielder Samir Nasri to shine in the absence of Fabregas.