Aston Villa look to reignite their top-four push in a massive Premier League showdown against Chelsea.
Victory would see Villa return to third if Manchester United slip up at Newcastle in the late kick-off, whilst Chelsea can go fifth with a win if Liverpool lose on Tuesday evening.
Team News
Villa have no fresh injury concerns to report following their 2-0 loss at Wolves last Friday, although Ollie Watkins could be rested due to a minor hamstring issue.
Andres Garcia (hamstring), Harvey Elliott (knock), Youri Tielemans (ankle), John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara (both knee) remain absent.
Chelsea will be without Pedro Neto after he was red carded in their 2-1 loss at Arsenal last Sunday.
Wesley Fofana is back in contention after he was suspended for the trip to North London, whilst Marc Cucurella could also feature if he passes late fitness checks.
Dario Essugo (unspecified), Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Estevao (both hamstring), Levi Colwill (ACL) and Mykhailo Mudryk (suspension) are still sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Chelsea at Villa Park on Wednesday 4 March at 7:30pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 3 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have lost one of their last six league meetings against Chelsea (W4, D1, L1).
- Chelsea have lost two of their last five league visits to Villa (W2, D1, L2).
- Villa’s last two meetings against Chelsea both ended in 2-1 victories.
- Villa have claimed just one win in their last four league matches at home (W1, D1, L2).
- Chelsea are looking to avoid suffering consecutive league defeats for the first time under Liam Rosenoir.
Prediction
Currently in a period of inconsistent form, Villa really should of beaten rock-bottom Wolves yet they were sluggish and lacked clinical end product quality which is a worry coming into this huge test, because defeat and you have to worry about their top-four chances a bit.
Chelsea meanwhile had their spells of dominance at Arsenal but often lacked the clinical quality aside from a lucky set-piece own-goal, amidst poor marking from Arsenal’s set-pieces which is a worry as a win is now imperative if want to keep pace with the top-four race.
Rosenoir though does need to sort out Chelsea’s discipline because they can’t afford to lose more players to reckless red cards, but this is another tough test for them against a team who will hope to produce a reaction to their loss at Wolves.
With that in mind, I expect this to be a competitive battle as neither team will want to lose this so a draw feels like a fair call.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea
Result: Aston Villa 1-4 Chelsea
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