After scrapping through a 1-1 draw with Manchester City last week, Chelsea will now focus their attentions to a struggling Aston Villa side. As a result of the draw, Chelsea maintained their five point lead at the top of the Premier League table. Chelsea will however be wary of any slip ups despite winning 3-0 at Stamford earlier in the season. It was at Villa Park last season where their title challenge started its decent in a game where Ramires saw red, as well as Mourinho being charged by the FA for his actions. Neil Swarbrick will be officiating the 3 pm kick off at Villa Park.
For Aston Villa, things could not have been any tougher. After being humiliated at the Emirates in a 5-0 defeat, manager Paul Lambert is coming under severe pressure from Villa fans. Despite the additions of the likes of Tom Cleverly and more recently Carlos Gill and Scott Sinclair, things have not gone right for Villa this season. After failing to win in six consecutive league games, they find themselves in a real threat of relegation from the Premier League.
Chelsea’s recent run of form has been mixed to say the least. In their last six games, Chelsea have won three, drawn two and lost just the once against Tottenham.
Diego Costa will serve the second of his three match ban against Villa on Saturday. Meaning after impressing and scoring against Manchester City last Saturday, Loic Remy is likely to be man Jose Mourinho chooses to provide the goal scoring threat for Chelsea. Jose Mourinho could hand a debut to new signing Juan Cuadrado, who is likely to feature at some point in the game. Both John Obi Mikel and Cesc Fabregas could feature after returning from injury.
Paul Lambert could also hand a home debut to new signing Scott Sinclair. After joining on loan from Manchester City, the winger came off the bench against Arsenal, hoping to regain match fitness and more importantly hoping to revive his career which stagnated to say the least whilst at the Premier League champions.
Personally I am predicting a very professional performance from the Blue’s. Similarly to the Swansea game, on paper this could another one of the potentially tricky away games that Chelsea have so famously struggled with over the years. After a tough game on Saturday the players will be keen to get back to winning ways. I am going for comfortable 3-0 victory, Remy and Oscar to chip in with the goals. Despite their additions in the transfer window, Aston Villa have not been good enough this season and I fear for their Premier League status. As Christian Benteke is not hitting the heights he reached in previous seasons, goals are limited for Villa, who look set to apply a lot of pressure on new signing Carlos Gill.
