Chelsea will look to add to their 14 game unbeaten run in the league when they travel to 11th placed Aston Villa on Saturday evening.
Venue: Villa Park Date: Saturday, 15 March Kick-off: 17:30 GMT On TV: Sky Sports 1/HD, BBC MOTD
Jose Mourinho’s men will be aiming to maintain their lead at the top of the table and keep the pressure on those teams with games in hand on the London side.
The Blues currently have a 7 point lead over Liverpool and Arsenal who both have a game in hand, and a 9 point gap over the team who many believe are Chelsea’s main contenders for the title; Manchester City. They can, however, go above Chelsea on goal difference if they win their three games in hand.
Aston Villa have quietly managed to move away from the relegation zone and find themselves 6 points clear of the dreaded drop zone having played a game less than many of their fellow ‘strugglers’.
Chelsea won 4-0 against London rivals Tottenham at Stamford Bridge during their last outing, while Aston Villa incredibly turned their game against Norwich round to win 4-1 with 2 goals from their talisman Christian Benteke.
The striker, of course, will pose the largest threat to the League’s best defence and with the physicality of John Terry and Gary Cahill, one would imagine that they should be able to keep the big Belgian relatively quiet.
As mentioned, it’s now 14 games unbeaten in the League for Mourinho’s men since the 2-3 away defeat to Stoke in December.
Aston Villa stopped the rot last week with a stunning win against Norwich and it had been just 1 win in 6 games previous to that win, to go alongside a defeat in the FA Cup against Sheffield United.
In the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge right back in August, Chelsea prevailed 2-1 winners following a controversial Branislav Ivanovic winner – many believed the Serb shouldn’t have been on the pitch following an elbow on Benteke.
On their last trip to Villa park, Chelsea also came out 1-2 winners with a certain Frank Lampard bringing Chelsea back from 1-0 down, scoring 2 to become the clubs all time leading goalscorer.
To the teams, and Chelsea will have to fill the gap left by Fernando Torres as he picked up an injury prior to Chelsea’s derby day victory against Tottenham.
Jose Mourinho could opt for either one of Demba Ba or Samuel Eto’o following goals from both of them in that win. One would imagine Samuel Eto’o would be first choice as he has been for the majority of this season. It is, however, a decision headache that Jose Mourinho will be happy to have at last.
The Spaniard has targeted Chelsea’s Champions League crunch tie against Galatasaray on Tuesday as the game to make an earlier than expected return to the first team.
Andre Schurrle, who played against Tottenham following his hat-trick against Fulham, may well expect to be dropped back to the bench following a below-par performance last week. Willian will be likely take his place.
Chelsea loanee Ryan Bertrand, who is on loan at Villa, will of course be ineligible for the game against Chelsea. The left-back has become a regular in the Aston Villa side and has expressed a desire for more first team football in the future, wherever that may be.
Aston Villa have announced on March 3rd that Chris Herd was unavailable for selection due to personal reasons.
Chelsea, of course, go into this one the favorites as they look to edge closer to the Premier League title. However a win for Villa and they may just start preparing for life in the Premier League once again next season, with a set of very winnable games to come in their Premier League run-in.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea: Pre-match facts
- Chelsea have lost just three games away from home in the Premier League this season, fewer than any other team.
- Last 10 games between sides: 6 Chelsea wins, 2 Draws, 2 Villa wins
- Aston Villa have not won back to back Barclays Premier League home matches since August 2011.
- Frank Lampard has more Premier League goals against Aston Villa than any other opponent (13)
Source: Opta
Aston Villa vs Chelsea: Predicted lineups
Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Vlaar, Baker, Lowton; El Ahmadi, Westwood, Delph; Weimann, Benteke, Agbonlahor
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Lampard; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Eto’o
Prediction: Villa 0-2 Chelsea
