Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal: result and report

Premier League · Friday 26 December 2008

Result

Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal

Premier League · Friday 26 December 2008, 17:15 UTC · half-time 0-1

Aston Villa · Arsenal · Premier League predictions

Aston Villa 2-2 Arsenal: match report

Aston Villa drew with Arsenal 2-2 in the Premier League on Friday 26 December 2008. It was 0-1 at half-time.

Denilson opened the scoring in the 40th minute. Aston Villa's goals came from Gareth Barry (65') and Zat Knight (90'). Arsenal scored through Denilson (40') and Abou Diaby (49').

Discipline: Aston Villa received 4 yellow cards; Arsenal received 4 yellow cards.

Going into the game Aston Villa were 4th on 34 points from 18 and Arsenal 5th on 31 points from 18. Aston Villa went on to finish that season 6th with 62 points, and Arsenal 4th with 72.

Aston Villa lined up in a 4-5-1 and Arsenal in a 4-1-4-1.

Before this game the head-to-head record in our data stood at 1 Aston Villa win, 3 draws and 6 for Arsenal.

Going into the match Aston Villa's last five read W-W-W-D-D and Arsenal's D-D-W-W-L.

Data as of 3 Nov 2026.

Key events

  • 25'Yellow card · Alex SongArsenal
  • 36'Yellow card · Kolo TouréArsenal
  • 40'Goal · DenilsonArsenal · 0-1
  • 49'Goal · Abou DiabyArsenal · 0-2
  • 51'Yellow card · Abou DiabyArsenal
  • 65'Goal · Gareth BarryAston Villa · 1-2
  • 72'Yellow card · Gabriel AgbonlahorAston Villa
  • 77'Yellow card · Nigel Reo-CokerAston Villa
  • 77'Yellow card · Robin van PersieArsenal
  • 82'Yellow card · Stiliyan PetrovAston Villa
  • 90'Goal · Zat KnightAston Villa · 2-2
  • 90'Yellow card · Gareth BarryAston Villa

Head-to-head

10 meetings: Aston Villa 1, draws 3, Arsenal 6.

Team news

Aston Villa line-up (4-5-1)

Luke Young, Ashley Young, Curtis Davies, Zat Knight, Steve Sidwell, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Brad Friedel

Arsenal line-up (4-1-4-1)

Almunia, Bacary Sagna, Kolo Touré, William Gallas, Mikaël Silvestre, Emmanuel Eboué, Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri, Denílson, Alex Song, Robin van Persie