Bold Predictions for Arsenal's Opening Premier League Fixture vs Aston Villa

Arsenal will kick off the new Premier League season with a home tie against Aston Villa on August 17.

The official fixture list for the 2013/14 Premier League season was revealed on Wednesday.

Will Arsene Wenger’s side start their season with a bang? Will Wayne Rooney be lining up for the Gunners? Could Villa engineer an opening-day upset at the Emirates?

Over the next five slides, we discuss five bold predictions for Arsenal vs Aston Villa.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below!

All statistics sourced on soccerbase.com and premierleague.com.

Villa Victorious

When the 2012-13 season drew to a close, Arsenal occupied fourth spot in the Premier League table.

A 32-point margin separated them from Aston Villa, who struggled to keep their heads above water for most of the season.

But that doesn’t mean that Arsenal will win on August 17.

A look back at the last three campaigns shows that Arsenal have not had the best opening days in recent years. If their first-day results between 2010-11 and 2012-13 could be summed up in a word, “drab” would do nicely.

A 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland last season, a 0-0 draw away to Newcastle the season before that and a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield means that the Gunners have only collected three points and scored one goal in their last three opening-day games.

Villa, however, won four points over the course of their last three openers. They lost 1-0 at West Ham last term, drew 0-0 with Fulham in 2011-12 and beat West Ham in a convincing 3-0 home win the previous year.

But it’s not all down to statistics.

Villa came perilously close to relegation last season and will be determined to make amends. They have a young, ambitious and—above all—hungry squad who will want to start the season in the right vein.

I think Arsenal will already have one eye on their back-to-back London derbies against Fulham (away) on August 24 and Tottenham Hotspur (home) on August 31, and they will slip up with a defeat against Paul Lambert’s Aston Villa.

Higuain Gunning for Arsenal

I predict that Gonzalo Higuain will play his first game in an Arsenal shirt when he lines up against Aston Villa on August 17.

A slew of rumours have linked the Real Madrid striker with a move to Arsenal, like this article by John Cross in the Mirror. Higuain has also professed his desire to leave the Bernabeu.

He was quoted on ESPNFC.com as saying:

"

"I am leaving Real Madrid. The decision has been made. I feel the time is right, and I want a change of scenery."

"

I expect Higuain to be Arsenal’s biggest summer signing.

Arsene Wenger’s side have also been heavily linked with a move for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, as reported here by Metro's Jamie Sanderson.

However, I think it's highly unlikely that we will see Rooney at the London club, where he would expect a continuation of his reported £200,000-a-week salary.

Benteke Still a Villan

One of the breakthrough players of the 2012-13 season was Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke.

The Belgian scored 19 Premier League goals for Villa in his first season in the top flight—the highest tally for any player at the club since Juan Pablo Angel in 2003-04.

With this successful debut season came inevitable rumours linking Benteke with a move away from Villa Park.

The 22-year-old has been rumoured to join a host of big-name clubs, including Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, Fiorentina and Arsenal, according to Matt Law in the Mirror.

But I predict that Benteke will heed manager Paul Lambert’s advice to stay with Villa, as seen here in James Dickenson's story in the Express, and will help fire them into the top half of the table this season.

Julio Cesar: A Dodgy Debut

Goalkeeper Julio Cesar was one of Queen’s Park Rangers’ best players last season.

In fairness, he didn't have much competition, but Cesar’s fine performances for the Hoops didn’t go unnoticed.

Brazil’s No. 1 has been linked with a move to Arsenal following QPR’s relegation to the Championship. Rumours, like this from John Drayton in the Daily Mail, that I predict will come true.

The former Inter Milan man is an excellent keeper whose career was rejuvenated with his spell at Loftus Road, but I think he will make some early mistakes for Arsene Wenger’s side.

I think that the 33-year-old will make his debut for Arsenal in their opening game against Aston Villa, and I predict that he will struggle to keep a clean sheet in his first game for the club.

Wenger's Pressure to Start Early

There seems to be a pattern emerging at Arsenal.

Every year the “Wenger out” theme runs in the nation’s newspapers and, as regular as clockwork, it starts to die down when the side eventually wraps up a top-four finish.

The club’s lack of silverware over the last eight seasons and shortage of big-name signings has stirred tensions at the Emirates.

Wenger used to be ahead of the modern game—bringing in new training methods and overhauling club nutrition as part of a sea change of thinking in English football. Now it seems the rest of the football world has caught up.

Wenger’s side consistently qualifies for the Champions League, and there are many clubs who would sell their soul for this opportunity and its associated financial benefits.

Yet Wenger continues to be criticized. Some have absolute trust in “Le Professeur,” while others see the absence of big buys as a weakness in the face of heavy-spending opposition.

This season, with just a year remaining on his current managerial contract, the speculation is going to start early.

Albeit premature, if Wenger doesn’t get a win against Aston Villa, there will be some people calling for his head.