Chelsea will host Aston Villa at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in search of their second league win of the season.
The Blues have had an awful start to the new season and will be eager to produce a good performance at home when Unai Emery’s tricky side, who currently sit seventh on the log come to town.
Despite spending millions of pounds on new signings and bringing in manager Mauricio Pochettino, the Blues are currently 14th on the log with five points in as many games.
They head into this encounter on the back of a goalless stalemate against Bournemouth that came last weekend at the Vitality Stadium.
For the visitors, they have made a decent start to the new season as they have won three of their five matches and have nine points.
They head into this encounter on the back of a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Legia Warszawa in the UEFA Europa Conference League. In that game, they had more of the ball, had more shots on goal but lost the it.
They will now look to put up an impressive show- against Pochettino’s team that hasn’t been clinical this season- and hope to bounce back from that Conference League defeat.
Team News
Chelsea will be without the services of captain Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Trevor Chalobah, Carney Chukwuemeka, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku, who are all unavailable due to injuries.
Meanwhile, Moises Caicedo, Armando Broja, Noni Madueke and Marc Cucurella are all expected to be back for this tie after having missed the last few games.
For Emery, he will be without Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings. The rest of the players are available for selection.
Key Stats
Chelsea have won only two of their last 13 Premier League home games and have the joint fewest EPL wins in 2023.
Aston Villa won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in April and can register consecutive away league victories against Chelsea for the first time in 30 years. They haven’t managed back-to-back away league wins versus the Blues since a run of three from 1930 to 1933.
Chelsea’s solitary victory last season against teams that finished in the top half of the table was a 2-0 win at Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa in October 2022.
Pochettino as a manager has won his last four matches against Villa in all competitions.
Villa have won just one of their past seven Premier League away games- at Burnley last month, while their only top-flight clean sheet in 10 on the road came in a 2-0 win at Chelsea on 1st April.
What the managers said
Speaking to the media during the prematch press conference, Pochettino urged his side to be clinical on goal.
“We need to be more clinical in front of goal and convert chances into goals. That is the most important thing. In all the data we are in the top four. But 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.”
Emery said; “They’re a very good team with a very good coach. Previously, they were contenders to be in the top seven teams in the Premier League.It’s a tough match.”
Probable Line-ups
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Gallagher, Fernandez, Ugochukwu; Sterling, Jackson, Mudryk
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Luiz; Diaby, McGinn, Zaniolo; Watkins
