Unai Emery’s Aston Villa travel to Stamford Bridge this weekend to face Graham Potter’s Chelsea in game week 29 of the Premier League. Here’s the latest heading into Saturday’s fixture…
THE BUILD UP
Villa can leapfrog their opponents with a win this weekend as Chelsea sit just ahead of the West-Midlands club on goal difference. Emery’s team come into the fixture in good form, having beaten Bournemouth by three goals to nil last time out, extending their unbeaten run to four games.
Douglas Luiz, who was immense against The Cherries, opened the scoring on 6 minutes and two late goals from Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendía sealed the victory at Villa Park.
The international break may have hindered momentum slightly, but many of the first team players have been in action for their respective nations over the last few days. That list includes names such as Leon Bailey, Emiliano Martínez and Bertrand Traoré. Jhon Durán, John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey – who captained the England U21 side for the first time on Tuesday night against Croatia – were all among the goals for their respective nations too.
As for Chelsea, they also enter this weekend four games unbeaten (in all competitions). Last time out in the league, The Blues were held at home to Sean Dyche’s Everton, despite going ahead twice at the Bridge.
João Félix put the home side ahead just after half-time, before Abdoulaye Doucouré levelled things up for The Toffees on the 69 minute mark. Potter’s side responded minutes later as Kai Havertz buried his penalty, but substitute Ellis Simms equalised in the 89th minute to earn his side a crucial point away from home.
When Villa and Chelsea met earlier this season, a Mason Mount brace at Villa Park was the difference between the two sides. Can The Villans get revenge this weekend and defeat their mid-table rivals, or will Graham Potter’s men do the league-double over the claret and blue outfit?
TEAM NEWS
ASTON VILLA
Right-back Matty Cash is set to face some time on the sidelines with a calf injury. The 25-year-old defender was withdrawn during Poland’s defeat to Czech Republic last Friday, having pulled up, and is rumoured to miss the next thee league games against Chelsea, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest.
Villa’s number two could return for the home fixture against Newcastle in mid-April. Ashley Young and Ezri Konsa are the two candidates that could replace Cash in the starting line-up.
Midfielders Boubacar Kamara and Philippe Coutinho could return to the first team set-up this week; the duo have been out of action with respective ankle and hamstring injuries. The international break came at a good time for the pair, allowing time to nurse their set-back – a late fitness test will decide their availability this weekend.
Elsewhere, Leander Dendoncker and Diego Carlos made their playing returns during the 3-1 behind-closed door friendly defeat to League One Bristol Rovers last week. Carlos partnered Tyrone Mings at the base of the defence and managed 67 minutes, whilst Dendoncker was alongside Calum Chambers in the Villa midfield.
CHELSEA
Graham Potter could welcome as many as eight first-team players back to the match-day squad this week. The international break allowed a number of players to recover from injury, ready for Saturday evening’s game at Stamford Bridge. Among those seemingly back available is winger Raheem Sterling, who has returned from a hamstring strain and should be back fit, having been pictured in training on Tuesday.
Mason Mount is another stand-out name that failed to register fit for England duty. Chelsea’s number 20 has struggled with a pelvic problem in recent weeks, but is expected to make his comeback on Saturday.
Other players who could return from a spell on the sidelines include Kai Havertz, César Azpilicueta and Reece James. Havertz withdrew from the Germany squad with illness, whilst Azpilicueta suffered a concussion in training. Meanwhile, Reece James was seen training at Cobham on Tuesday, despite withdrawing from the England camp through a minor hamstring setback.
Saturday’s game is set to come too soon for veteran defender Thiago Silva. The Brazilian suffered knee ligament damage during The Blues’ clash with Tottenham in February and is four weeks into his predicted six week absence.
Elsewhere, Wesley Fofana was pictured in training last week and looks to have recovered from a fatigue and hamstring issue, whilst duo Édouard Mendy and N’Golo Kanté featured in a game against Charlton last week and have been involved in a number of sessions over the last fortnight.
To finish, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is set to recover from a lower back problem, whilst Armando Broja is Chelsea’s only long-term absentee. The Albanian international ruptured his ACL during the mid-season break in Abu Dhabi.
SUBSCRIBE
Enjoying this article? It’s FREE to subscribe to UTVPODCAST | An Aston Villa Blog; you’ll receive instant email notifications of all released articles.
A BIT ON CHELSEA
Graham Potter experienced a positive start to life as Chelsea head coach. The 47-year-old made the switch from Brighton & Hove Albion to Stamford Bridge in September, after the West-London club sought a replacement for the now Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel. Potter’s Chelsea went on a 9 game unbeaten run across all competitions before embarrassingly losing to the head coach’s former side away from home.
This defeat kick-started a difficult vein of form, with The Blues winning just twice across the next nine games, including a sour loss to local-rivals Fulham and three setbacks to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. The form since that run has been very hit and miss and the lack of consistency has left Chelsea in a seriously underwhelming 10th place in the Premier League heading into this weekend, 11 points adrift of the top four.
The 2021 FIFA Club World Cup winners still remain in this year’s UEFA Champions League, however. Having seen off German outfit Borussia Dortmund in the first knockout round, The Blues have two ties against holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. With domestic qualification for next year’s competition looking less likely by the week, Chelsea will have to do it the hard way and win the tournament if they are to play at the top level of club football next season.
Accompanying a busy summer window at Stamford Bridge that saw £280 million spent and the arrival of the likes of Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella, was an even busier January window. Graham Potter was given the freedom of Todd Boehly’s bank account at the start of the year and brought in a host of top talent, including Mykhaylo Mudryk, Enzo Fernández and Benoît Badiashile, in a window that totalled over £320 million.
Chelsea will look to end the season strongly; a prospect strengthened by the return of a number of top first-team players. Can The Blues extend their four-game unbeaten run with a victory over Villa or will Unai Emery’s team continue their superb away form and take all three points from the capital?
If you’ve found this post via Facebook, then please follow our blog page to support our fan-led content – https://www.facebook.com/UTVPODCAST
PREDICTED LINE-UP
Let’s take a look at Liam’s predicted line-up for this upcoming fixture…
Do you agree? Who makes your side?
Have your own attempt by accessing the following link: https://utvpodcast.co.uk/line-up-selector/.
Thank you for reading: any likes, retweets, or shares on the social media post where you found this article would be highly appreciated.
Thumbnail Media Credit: www.avfc.co.uk
AUTHOR | LIAM DAVIES
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Liam Davies – UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
On Twitter? Drop the author a follow…
DONATE
UTVPODCAST | An Aston Villa Blog— is now accepting small donations, which will help to support the site’s ongoing evolution.
Thank you so much for your support.
HUGE SAVINGS ON ASTON VILLA MERCHANDISE @ KITBAG
UTVPODCAST is pleased to partner with Official AVFC Store, Fanatics, and Kitbag. Throughout the season, we will bring you exclusive offers and discount codes.
HIT THE IMAGE – to be diverted.
