Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Aston Villa vs Chelsea in the Premier
League on Boxing Day; kick-off 5.30pm.
Team news
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard is hoping he will have enough players
available for the home game against Chelsea to go ahead.
Villa's scheduled match against Burnley last Saturday was postponed due to a
Covid-19 outbreak at the Midlands club.
Keinan Davis, Marvelous Nakamba, Morgan Sanson, Anwar El Ghazi, Bertrand
Traore and Leon Bailey were all unavailable with a variety of problems, but
Gerrard confirmed "a couple" of players were back in contention.
Chelsea duo Romelu Lukaku and Callum Hudson-Odoi can return for the
visitors.
The attacking duo were two of the eight Blues players hit by Covid-19 but
have now recorded negative tests and are back in training.
Defender Andreas Christensen is also in contention after a back injury.
Jones Knows prediction
Chelsea were three points clear of Liverpool and four points ahead of
Manchester City after 12 Premier League games at the end of November.
They now trail leaders City by six points and Liverpool by three.
The west Londoners have gone from 15/8 shots for the title all the way out
to 12/1 with Sky Bet. Such is the relentless pace of the top-two, you simply
can't afford to go through a spell of winning just three out of eight games
like Chelsea have. In the blink of an eye, the title has probably slipped
out of their grasp. I'm happy to back Villa to get a result in this one,
too.
Thomas Tuchel has found it hard to stop Villa in their three meetings since
he took charge, winning just one of the three games, including suffering a
defeat on the last day of last season. Tuchel's side are usually very hard
to create chances against but Villa have managed a whopping 34 shots in
those three fixtures which provides me with confidence to go looking for a
bet in the Villa player shots market.
My lucky pin has fallen on Matty Cash to record a shot at a very appealing
10/11 with Sky Bet. Steven Gerrard has played a very narrow midfield since
taking charge with the width being supplied by the full-backs. In his six
appearances under Gerrard, Cash has fired six shots and had 20 touches in
the opposition box, showcasing his freedom to join attacks.
SCORE PREDICTION: 1-1
Opta stats
Aston Villa won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, last winning
back-to-back home league games against Chelsea back in April 2004.
Chelsea won the reverse fixture 3-0 earlier this season, and are looking to
complete the Premier League double over Aston Villa for the seventh time -
only Manchester United (15) and Manchester City (8) have done so against the
Villans more often in the competition.
This is the sixth time Aston Villa and Chelsea have met in a league match on
Boxing Day (fourth in the Premier League), with Chelsea remaining unbeaten
in the five games so far (W3 D2). The last such match came in the 2007-08
season, a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge.
In Premier League history, there have been 38 red cards in games played on
Boxing Day. 8% of these came in one match - Aston Villa's 4-4 draw away to
Chelsea in 2007-08, with Zat Knight being sent off for Villa, and Ricardo
Carvalho and Ashley Cole seeing red for the Blues.
Aston Villa have won their last three Boxing Day league games, their longest
winning run on this day since a run of five between 1908 and 1913.
top