Chelsea and Aston Villa look to return to winning ways as they collide at Stamford Bridge.
Victory would see Chelsea move further away from the relegation zone, whilst Villa can go sixth with a win if West Ham lose elsewhere.
Team News
Marc Cucurella is set to return for Chelsea after he missed their goalless draw at Bournemouth due to illness.
Moises Caicedo (knee) and Noni Madueke (knock) are doubts and face late fitness tests.
Armando Broja could mak his first senior appearance of the season after recovering from a serious knee injury, which forced him to miss the second half of last season.
Marcus Bettinelli (unspecified), Trevoh Chalobah (Achilles), Reece James (hamstring), Wesley Fofana (ACL), Benoit Badiashile (muscle), Romeo Lavia (ankle), Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku, (both knee) remain ruled out.
Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report after their Europa Conference League loss to Legia Warsaw on Thursday evening.
Diego Carlos (hamstring), Tyrone Mings (knee), Tim Iroegbunam (unspecified), Bertrand Traore (unspecified) and Emiliano Buendia (ACL) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Chelsea host Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge in a 2pm BST kick-off on Sunday 24 September, untelevised in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea are unbeaten in four of their last six league meetings against Aston Villa (W3, D1, L2).
- Aston Villa have won just one of their last eight league trips to Chelsea (W1, D1, L6).
- Victory would see Villa record consecutive league wins over Chelsea for the first time since 1993.
- Enzo Fernandez is the only Chelsea player to hit the woodwork more than once this season, having rattled the woodwork twice in five appearances.
- Villa’s Ollie Watkins has been caught offside twice in five league appearances this season.
Prediction
With just one win in their opening five games, Chelsea’s struggles seem to be continuing this season and end product was their biggest issue at Bournemouth which seems to be a recurring theme in recent games and has to change if want to start winning.
Villa meanwhile were simply a sloppy defensive mess in their loss to Legia Warsaw with too many errors which were duly punished, despite all of their strong attacking intensity and threat which proved tricky for the Polish hosts to handle.
Now if Chelsea continue to be wasteful and Villa’s defence can buckle up their ideas whilst continuing to deliver a strong attacking effort, I believe that the Villains might have enough to snatch a win.
Prediction: Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa
Result: Chelsea 0-1 Aston Villa
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