Chelsea vs Aston Villa: Preview, Team News & Predictions
Chelsea will be looking to improve on their dismal start when they welcome Aston Villa to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, September 24th.
The Blues have only seen one win under Mauricio Pochettino, against the largely underwhelming newcomers Luton Town. Despite having the third best xGA (expected goals against) and racking up nearly 1.77 expected goals per 90 minutes, the Blues have scored only five times and conceded just as many.
The statistics portray a completely different picture, and as Mauricio Pochettino rightly pointed out, the team needs to improve their decision-making in the final third.
“We need to win, we need to keep going, playing well. We need to be more clinical in front of goal and convert chances into goals. That is the most important thing because in all the data we are in top four but after in front of goal we are in the bottom and that is why we don’t have the points that we deserve. Football is about winning games,” he said.
The same follows for Aston Villa, who have three wins from their last four in the Premier League but suffered a 3-2 defeat away at Legia Warszawa.
Fortunately for Unai Emery, a host of key players were awarded rests and should be fresh to try and repeat their previous performance at Stamford Bridge – a 2-0 win in April.
There’s a method and ruthlessness about Aston Villa under Emery, and it’s fair to say they’re narrow favourites against the Blues.
Team News
Chelsea
A fresh strain to Benoit Badiashile has delayed his return from injury. But he along with Reece James are close to returning. Armando Broja’s return after nine months boosts Chelsea’s forward line, especially after Nicolas Jackson’s poor start and an accumulation of four yellow cards.
Moises Caicedo, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia are sidelined.
A question mark lies over Ben Chilwell, who was omitted from the starting XI last week.
Aston Villa
Speaking to reporters Emery said “Some injuries are coming like with important injuries to Tyrone Mings and Emiliano Buendia, and then small injuries like Diego Carlos. We made yesterday some mistakes, unusual tactical mistakes, but I spoke to the players and said it was a small accident. We will analyse and react to improve the mistakes we did.”
The formidable back line of Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres should return to the heart of defense. Meanwhile, Alex Moreno’s return will bolster the team’s full back roster, while Jacob Ramsey is set to be back on the pitch soon.
Predicted XI
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Gallagher, Fernandez, Ugochukwu; Sterling, Jackson, Mudryk
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Luiz; Diaby, McGinn, Zaniolo; Watkins
Match Prediction
In what could be a tactical tussle between the two sides, Villa will line up on the counter and look to overload Chelsea’s flank with Matty Cash’s advanced position.
They should be able to combat Chelsea’s flat back line through their staggered positions on the break, and in turn, pile further misery on Pochettino.
Final score: Chelsea 0-2 Aston Villa
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: CFC Unofficial. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.