May 2021

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Aston Villa vs Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday, live on Sky Sports (kick-off 4pm).

Team news

Ross Barkley has played the final game of his Aston Villa loan spell as he is ineligible to face parent club Chelsea.

The midfielder has struggled for consistency this season and has made only 18 Premier League starts.

Matt Cash (hamstring) and Morgan Sanson (knee) remain out for Dean Smith's side while Trezeguet is not expected to return until next season as he recovers from a serious knee injury.

Chelsea will hand late fitness tests to Kai Havertz and N'Golo Kante. Havertz has battled a muscle issue, while Kante is dealing with a hamstring concern.

Andreas Christensen will return after a leg tendon complaint.

Race for Europe - the permutations

Even after their win over Leicester on Tuesday night, Chelsea still require a victory at Aston Villa on the final day to be certain of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Wins for Liverpool and Leicester on the final day and even a draw for Chelsea would send them into the Europa League instead.

In any case, Thomas Tuchel's team could still qualify for next season's Champions League by beating Man City in the final on May 29.

Jones Knows' prediction

This is by no means a gimme for Chelsea as they look to secure their top-four place by taking three points at Villa Park.

I would much rather be in Leicester's shoes and play Tottenham at home rather than Aston Villa away. When playing with confidence and at full strength, Villa have shown this season they are a team capable of mixing it towards the top end of the Premier League, as shown in their impressive win at Spurs in midweek.

Obviously, Jack Grealish makes a huge difference to their process. With him, their expected goals data has them as the seventh-best team in the league but without him, that process drops them to 14th. He really is vital.

Playing Chelsea is obviously a step up from beating Spurs but there is a significant bit of juice about getting them onside in this match, especially with Grealish returning to full throttle. The 13/8 with Sky Bet for a Villa win or draw certainly is tempting.

CORRECT SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1

BETTING ANGLE: Aston Villa to win or draw (13/8 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

Aston Villa have lost 10 of their last 12 Premier League meetings with Chelsea (W1 D1), though they did get a draw in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge this season.

Chelsea have won their last three Premier League away games against Aston Villa, last winning four in a row at Villa Park between 1995 and 1999.

Aston Villa haven't won their final league game in any of the last nine campaigns, since beating Liverpool 1-0 in 2010-11. However, the Villans are unbeaten when facing Chelsea in their last game (W3 D1), most recently winning 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on the closing day of the 2001-02 season.

Chelsea have lost their final league game in just one of the last nine campaigns (W6 D2), going down 0-3 at Newcastle in 2017-18.

Aston Villa have won 15 Premier League matches this season, six more than they won last season (9). This is the biggest rise in victories in consecutive Premier League seasons for Villa since they won 11 in 1994-95 and then 18 in 1995-96.

Chelsea are unbeaten in each of their eight away league games under Thomas Tuchel (W6 D2), conceding just four goals in total and never more than once in a match.

Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has scored in each of his last seven Premier League appearances against Aston Villa, netting nine goals in total. Only Robin van Persie has ever scored in eight consecutive games against an opponent in the competition (vs Stoke).

Jorginho is Chelsea's top league goalscorer this season with seven goals - all of them from the penalty spot. The last top-flight season in which the Blues had such a low-scoring top goalscorer was in 1974-75 (Ian Hutchinson, 7).

Ollie Watkins has scored 14 Premier League goals for Aston Villa this season - the last English player to score more in a single top-flight campaign for the Villans was David Platt in 1990-91 (19).

All seven of Jorginho's Premier League goals for Chelsea this season have been penalties - no player has scored more in a single campaign with 100% of them coming from the penalty spot (level with James Milner in 2016-17).