If Arsenal are to better their back-to-back second-place Premier League finishes this season, they can take a big first step on Saturday when they visit an Aston Villa side that was their foil during the last campaign.

The Gunners (1-0-0, 3 points) finished two points shy of four-time repeat champions Manchester City in last year’s chase. They may well have secured their first league title in 21 years if they could’ve won either of their clashes against the Villans.

Instead, Villa earned a 1-0 victory at home and then a 2-0 triumph in the return fixture, despite Arsenal creating the majority of the opportunities in both matches.

“They scored and we didn’t. It’s very simple,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said Friday. “In two games we had an enormous amount of chances to do that, and that was the big difference. There were other details for sure which we have analyzed, and we will have to do better (Saturday) because they are a really good side with a good coach.”

Arsenal started their new campaign with a clinical 2-0 home win over the Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Kai Havertz scoring in the 25th minute and Bukayo Saka tallying in the 74th.

Midfielder Declan Rice exited late due to some cramping but is expected to be available for a Gunners side that has few other major injury issues.

Meanwhile, Villa (1-0-0, 3 points) are facing the challenge of trying to equal or exceed last year’s fourth-place finish while also playing in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the competition was rebranded from the European Cup in the early 1990s.

Both Newcastle United and Manchester United failed to repeat their top-four seasons last year while also exiting the Champions League at the group stage.

Villa manager Unai Emery understands how difficult it will be for his side to avoid a similar fate but doesn’t want to dampen his team’s aspirations to keep improving domestically and in continental play.

“To achieve the objectives we are facing, dreaming is very difficult, but I want to dream and work hard to get it,” Emery said. “At the moment we are in a good way but there’s still a lot of work to do to continue being consistent like I want.”

Villa began that quest with a 2-1 win at West Ham on the opening weekend, with new signing Amadou Onana opening the scoring on a set-piece header and substitute Jhon Duran converting in the 79th minute.

–Field Level Media