Arsenal are also wearing new duds tonight. Their third-choice kit is gorgeous too, and will whisk everyone of a certain vintage straight back to this …

… which should kickstart a campaign to reinstate the little pyramid of AFC cannonballs that used to rest beside the cannon on the crest. Someone, somewhere, make it happen.

Aston Villa will be debuting their new kit tonight. Any old excuse to revisit this wonderfully realised nonsense …

Unai Emery’s double-breasted sports coat is obviously the standout piece in that film, but the Villa shirt itself is retro glam of the highest order. There is a problem though. As far as I can make out, Villa have ditched the blue sleeves on four previous occasions in their history, with results that can be best described as mixed. They won promotion to the Premier League with an all-claret top (trim doesn’t count) in 2018-19. However when they first ditched the blue sleeves, in 1969-70, they fell to the bottom of the old Second Division in short order, and though they got permission from the powers that be to whack the blue back on, halfway through the season, they still went down to the third tier for the first (and as yet only) time in their history. So why they tried it again for a period during the mid-Eighties is anyone’s guess, because predictably enough, the club were relegated to the old Second Division wearing it, having been European champions just five years previously. Let’s see how this one pans out, then.

_{The fourth occasion? A totally nondescript campaign in 2001-02 which completely ruins the rhythm of this entry. So I’m not mentioning it.}

Unai Emery’s turn to talk to Sky. “Good evening … the first match was not as planned but we must keep going forward … today we are playing at home, the first match, the second day of the Premier League … we are looking forward to how we are going to respond … we need to do that as soon as possible … today is a good match for us … it is the best team, Arsenal, so it is difficult … but with our supporters here we are always feeling confident … we need to transmit our positive energy to our supporters … they can come back with the same positive energy we need … we have experienced players … they know how we want to play … today is a challenge … we are changing things, but there are no excuses … we must perform today and adapt as soon as possible … the new players … the priority is the Premier League … I am positive … optimistic … I want to play against the best teams.”

Mikel Arteta speaks to Sky Sports. “We will have time to make changes throughout the game … Villa are a super well-coached team … we know how tough it is to come and win here … we are very conscious of that … but we are very ambitious … we want to be dominant … to suffocate the opponent … to be better than them.”

Tonight’s game has implications at both ends of the Premier League table (and yes it is far too early to be taking these sorts of things totally seriously, but then try telling that to supporters of Hull City). Arsenal can go top if they win by two clear goals, while Aston Villa would drop to the bottom should that happen. But if Villa win, they are guaranteed to rise to 13th place, and could theoretically go as high as eighth, though they’d have to beat Arsenal by seven goals to do that, and they’ve never run up seven against them in 122 years of trying. (Arsenal have scored seven in this fixture, mind, and one man got them all: Ted Drake, in a 7-1 rout in 1935. Drake took nine shots that day; of the other two, one hit the bar and the other, the striker insisted, crossed the line but wasn’t given. But we’re going well off piste here.)

Aston Villa make two changes to the team who found themselves four goals down after 31 minutes at Brighton last weekend. In come two debutants: goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and striker Nicolas Jackson. Marco Bizot drops to the bench, while João Gomes, sent off in that aforementioned debacle-by-the-sea, is suspended. Villa have three other potential debutants on their bench in Alejandro Garnacho, Matteo Ruggeri and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Arsenal, coming off the back of their three-goal win over Coventry, are unsurprisingly unchanged. Bruno Guimarães is back from injury and on the bench, waiting to make his first Premier League appearance for the Gunners … as is Ezri Konsa, a Villa player just ten days ago.