Afternoon all. So, after all the drama of the Champions League during the week, domestic football in England once again takes centre stage. Here, we will be covering arguably the pick of Saturday's Premier League matches - Aston Villa vs. Arsenal at Villa Park.

The big question in terms of team selection where Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is concerned - will he drop Mesut Ozil? Well, stay tuned because we have the answer coming up...

ARSENAL XI: Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Arteta, Ramsey; Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez; Welbeck

ARSENAL SUBS: Ospina, Coquelin, Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, Wilshere, Podolski

No, is the answer to that question regarding Ozil. The German World Cup winner starts as part of a three-pronged attack along with Santi Cazorla, who has been recalled, and Alexis Sanchez, with Danny Welbeck still searching for his first goal in Arsenal colours up front. Looking at that lineup, Ozil may well be deployed in his more favoured number 10 role, so there will be little excuse for a negative performance today. Elsewhere, Jack Wilshere is only deemed fit enough for a place on the bench, while Calum Chambers has replaced the injured Mathieu Debuchy at right-back.

And now for how hosting Villa will start this contest...

VILLA XI: Guzan; Hutton Senderos, Clark, Cissokho; Delph, Westwood, Cleverley; Richardson, Weimann; Agbonlahor

VILLA SUBS: Given, Bacuna, Okore, Sanchez, Grealish, Lowton, N'Zogbia

Disappointingly for Villa, skipper Ron Vlaar remains on the sidelines with a calf injury. What's more, to rub extra salt into the wound, his replacement Nathan Baker, who deputised so well at Liverpool last weekend, is also absent. As a result, Ciaran Clark has come into the side and will partner Philippe Senderos at the heart of the Villa defence. Aside from that, there are no major surprises. Manchester United loanee Tom Cleverley will make his home debut, while the in-form Gabriel Agbonlahor will continue to spearhead the attack.

While Villa have had a fantastic season to date and we will focus on them shortly, arguably the biggest story here has been Arsenal's form of late. As Wenger rightly pointed out to reporters earlier in the week, the defeat in Dortmund on Tuesday was his side's first since early April. Yet, their performances have been patchy to say the least, with their last three Premier League encounters have ended in draws. In terms of points, they would have been better off losing won and winning two.

Speaking to journalists at his most recent confidence, Wenger stated his belief that his players would respond from that miserable night in Germany today:

"I think the players are naturally determined to bounce back. You always want to remind the players where we failed. We want to redress what wasn't done well. But we want to respond. We have confidence in our strengths and we want to show that we can perform. It is always a test for us to go to Villa Park but we want to bounce back quickly and I'm sure we will."

Wenger has also been quick to leap to the defence of his deadline-day signing Welbeck. The £16m man has not scored in either of first two appearances against Manchester City and Dortmund, yet he has had very good opportunities to break his duck in both games. His failure to score has certainly provided more ammunition to the doubters, yet Wenger has been full of praise for the England international:

"He is settling in very well.He integrates into the team very well and very quickly. He shows a very interesting talent. He was a bit unlucky in the last two games, especially against Man City where he hit the post," said the Frenchman.

"I believe as well he had two or three very good chances in Dortmund. People will say he didn't score but on the night to create the chances he did was already fantastic."

In the opposite corner today is Villa, who as mentioned earlier, have started the season extremely positively, so much so that a win today would send them top of the table. Such results saw the club reward manager Paul Lambert with a new contract earlier in the week. The Scot is now tied to Villa Park until the summer of 2018.

But what has been behind the turnaround in fortunes at Villa? After all, during the previous two campaigns, they have been relegation fodder. There have been many people that have praised the work carried out by new assistant boss Roy Keane, including from Lambert, who recently said this about the fiery Irishman:

"The two of us are really strong characters. I knew he had a lot of football knowledge that was unfairly tarnished. His knowledge meant he was too good to be a television pundit. To get him back in the game was great."

Villa's revitalised full-back Alan Hutton also had this to say of Keane's impact to BBC Sport:

"Just look at Roy Keane's career in general. He's been there and done it. To have someone like that in your corner is unbelievable. He and Paul Lambert have worked unbelievably together.

"Look at our performances, the ways we've gone about our games. It's clicked and there is no reason it can't continue. You want to perform for yourself but you know if you aren't [Keane]'s going to be there to give you the shot you need. For me that's a good thing to spur you on, to get you back to where he thinks you should be. He's done brilliantly for everyone. Lifted the standard in training, doesn't want to let it drop."

BREAKING TEAM CHANGE! There is a late alteration for Arsenal as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain comes into the starting lineup ahead of Sanchez. More to follow.

There has been no confirmation from Arsenal, but it would seem that Sanchez has picked up a knock during the warm-up. Even so, the Chilean is still included on the bench.

STAT! So, what is going to happen today? Well, the form book would suggest that Villa will take something from this game, but they don't boast a great record at Villa Park against Arsenal. In their last 15 Premier League visits to Villa Park, the North Londoners have won eight and drawn seven, losing none.

And here is how Matt Law and I have called this game for Sports Mole.

STAT! Arsenal fans - a moment ago we provided you with an encouraging statistic and here is another one for you, courtesy of the team at Opta. It should also fill Welbeck with plenty of confidence:

While Welbeck has struggled for goals, the same can actually be said of today's hosts, despite their good start to the campaign. In their four outings this term, Lambert's side have had just six shots on goal, four of which have found the back of the net. Thankfully from their point of view, they have tightened up dramatically defensively, having conceded only one.

BREAKING TEAM CHANGE! What is going on at Villa Park?! First Sanchez drops out the Arsenal team, now midfielder Westwood withdraws from the Villa starting lineup. It's being reported that he is suffering with a virus, so Carlos Sanchez has come into the side, with Joe Cole being added to the bench. Late drama.

Right, the players are just about to make their way out on to the pitch, with the handshakes taking place shortly. Then, we will be underway at Villa Park. Can the home side go top? The next 90 minutes will tell us.

KICKOFF! Visiting Arsenal, attacking from right to left, get proceedings underway at Villa Park.

SAVE! It's Villa that have the game's first effort as Szczesny atones for an error. It was the Arsenal keeper's poor clearance that found Delph, who exchanged passes with Agbonlahor 25 yards from goal before curling in a low shot. It seems that the ball is about to creep into the far corner of the net, but Szczesny gets down well to push clear the danger.

Villa's workrate in these opening exchanges has been very impressive. As you'd expect from Arsenal, they are keeping possession, but are being pressed hard by their opponents, which is resulting in some wayward passes from the away team. In turn, the home faithful are getting by their side.

Not too much to report from the last few minutes. Arsenal are seeing plenty of the ball, but they are yet to breakdown the Villa rearguard. As for the hosts, they are looking to catch the Gunners on the counter-attack.

It would seem that the travelling faithful are getting behind the out of form Ozil:

Talking of struggling for form Arsenal players - Aaron Ramsey looks off the pace at the moment. He's just give away possession to Delph 20 yards from his own goal. The Villa midfielder instantly sends in a cross, but despite the fact that Agbonlahor wins the initial header, Gibbs is able to recover and hack clear. Moments later, Hutton flicks a Cleverley corner wide. Even so, it's positive stuff from the hosts.

CHANCE! Meanwhile, up the other end, there is half a sight of goal for Welbeck as Mertesacker knocks the ball down into his path, but his half-volley is well blocked by Clark. Then, from the resultant corner, Ramsey drags his low shot wide of the near post when well placed. You get the feeling that the Welshman would have scored that last season.

BOOKING! The first yellow card of the contest goes the way of Arsenal and Chambers. It's fully deserved as well because Agbonlahor is just about to hit top speed down the right flank when he was hacked by the full-back.

SAVE! The home side should be 1-0 up, there's little doubt about that. Cleverley sends over a dangerous cross to the back post, where an unmarked Clark is waiting. It looks an easy header for the Villa defender, but his connection is not the cleanest, which allows Szczesny to scamper across his line and pull off a save. How important could that moment prove to be come the final whistle?

Some match action courtesy of Villa's official Twitter page:

It's just not quite happening for Arsenal right now. There has been some lovely interchanges and exchanges in the final third, but the final pass has been lacking, which is really unlike Wenger's side.

Now, will that silence Ozil's critics? He's been dying the play in a central role and now he's been deployed there, he's opened the scoring. First of all plenty of praise should go to Welbeck, because he slips a great pass on the blindside of Senderos and through for his German teammate, who is one on one with Guzan. After that, his low finish from 12 yards out shows great composure. Arsenal lead.

The last two minutes couldn't have gone much better for Arsenal. First Ozil scores, then Welbeck opens his account for the club. Ozil turns provider on this occasion as he sends in a low cross from the left. The Villa defence is static, but Welbeck is alert and races in to tap in from close ranger. He has his first goal for Arsenal - will more come now?

Madness, just madness at Villa Park! On the 30-minute mark, Villa looked comfortable, but now they are 3-0 down. This time they shoot themselves in the foot as Gibbs's attempted shot from the edge of the area is going well wide. Cissokho cannot sort his feet out in time, though, and can only divert the wayward effort into his own net. Villa Park is stunned into silence, apart from the band of travelling fans.

If my calculations are right, there was three minutes and 14 seconds between Arsenal's three goals! Where do Villa go from here? One thing is for sure, I wouldn't fancy going in to face Roy Keane at the break!

CHANCE! Ozil may well have had his second goal of the afternoon. All of a sudden Ramsey has come to life and it's his scooped pass that picks out Ozil inside the area. He goes for an acrobatic half-volley, but his effort trickles wide of Guzan's far post. The Gunners are rampant.

There will be two minutes of stoppage time at the end of this eventful first half.

Well, that was one of the strangest halves of Premier League football that I've seen for a long while. Arsenal lead 3-0, but that doesn't tell the whole story, that's for sure!

For 30 minutes, while not having too much of the ball, Villa looked relatively comfortable and actually should have been in front, but Clark failed to convert his headed chance from close range. After that, the tightness that they have shown at the back all season just vanished. Come the half-time whistle, they were lucky it was only 3-0!

One would imagine that it will be a buoyant Arsenal dressing room right now. The likes of Ozil and Welbeck will have silenced the doubters for the time being with their goals, while Ramsey, also criticised in recent weeks, has shown some bright moments as the half wore on. The message from Wenger is bound to be more of the same after the restart, while also not giving Villa any encouragement.

In terms of what Lambert can do, perhaps the introduction of Charles N'Zogbia may liven things up. But, the main task will have to be stopping this from becoming embarrassing because in the closing stages it felt that Arsenal were going to score every time that they went forward. A comeback, it would seem, is out of the question, although Arsenal did once blow a 4-0 half-time lead away at Newcastle United. You'd get very, very long odds on that happening today, mind you!

MATCH ACTION! Here is Welbeck scoring his first goal for Arsenal:

RESTART! Trailing Villa get the second half back underway at Villa Park. They've also made a substitution, with 19-year-old Jack Grealish replacing Weimann.

It's been a very composed start to the second half by Arsenal, who are passing the ball around with relative ease. Also, centre-backs Mertesacker and Koscielny have dropped back five yards or so, which means that there is very little space for Villa skipper Agbonlahor to get behind them.

SAVE! Welbeck seems to be buzzing after opening his account. Just now he cut inside from the left flank and despite having options to cross, he goes for goal. There's plenty of power in the shot, but it flies straight at Guzan. Nevertheless, that shows how much confidence he has gained from the goal.

BOOKING! To be fair to Agbonlahor, he's still trying to get his side back into this game. His pace took him beyond Mertesacker, but his route to goal was then illegally blocked by a late sliding challenge from Ramsey, who is rightly cautioned.

Half an opening for Villa as a corner from Cleverley evades everybody inside the six-yard box and eventually finds Clark at the back post. He controls the ball with his chest, but his powerful volley his bravely blocked by Oxlade-Chamberlain. There have been signs in the last couple of minutes that Villa are pushing hard for a route back into the contest.

Here's a stat regarding Ozil's contribution during that mad goalscoring spree in the first half:

After that initial flurry at the start of the second half, Villa are now seeing very little of the ball and if anything, Arsenal look the more likely to get the game's fourth goal.

Welbeck and Ozil have shown signs of forging a really positive understanding today. They have set up a goal for each other and throughout this second half they have exchanged some neat passes. Considering both headed into this game with somewhat of a point of prove, they have done well here.

It's a bit like a training game right now. Arsenal are dominating the possession and are trying to probe for an opening, although they do not look overly concerned about scoring a fourth goal. As for Villa, it looks like they cannot wait to get off the pitch. There are already some empty seats appearing in the home end - they have seen enough.

SUBS: Changes for both teams in the closing stages - three in fact for Arsenal. Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Welbeck all come off, with Rosicky, Wilshere and Podolski entering the action. As for Villa, Richardson has gone off and has been replaced by N'Zogbia.

Pass, pass, pass - that's all Arsenal are doing right now and Villa are letting them. Each one is being met by a cheer from the away fans. If the referee blew the final whistle now, nobody would complain.

BOOKING! That's probably some frustration coming out of Clark there. It's a very late sliding challenge from the Villa defender on Podolski and he is rightly booked.

BOOKING! And now there's a booking for Arsenal and it's Wilshere's first real involvement since he came off the bench. Villa full-back Hutton is the player that is needlessly fouled by the midfielder.

VILLA SUB: Final change of the day for Villa and it's Sanchez, a late inclusion after Westwood pulled out ill, who goes off. On in his place is Bacuna.

There will be three minutes of stoppage time for Villa to endure here.

There goes the final whistle and in truth the outcome was never in doubt after the 36th minute when Cissokho put through his own net to make it 3-0 to Arsenal. They get their first win since the opening day, while it's also Villa's maiden defeat of the campaign.

That is all we have time for from Villa Park. Be sure to stick around with Sports Mole, though, for analysis of this clash, as well as player ratings. Thanks for joining us and until next time, goodbye.