Aston Villa vs Chelsea Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Prediction & Betting

Chelsea will be looking to tighten their grip at the top of the table when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday afternoon. 

The Blues failed to take full advantage of playing at home last weekend when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, so they remain five points clear at the top of the Premier League table heading into this weekends action.

Villa Park has never been a happy hunting ground for Jose Mourinho as the Portuguese coach has never won at the ground, with two defeats and three draws from five visits so far.

However, he’ll possibly never get a better opportunity to end that run as Villa go into the game in terrible form with Paul Lambert’s side seeing their goalless streak stretch to over 10 hours last weekend as they were thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates.

The Villains last goal came way back on December 20th when Christian Benteke found the back of the net against Manchester United so the very least they’ll be hoping for tomorrow is a goal to give them some sort of chance of picking up a much-needed three points.

Team news

Chelsea will be without Filipe Luis as the Brazilian defender is still nursing a calf injury so Cesar Azpilicueta will continue at left-back.

However, Cesc Fabregas has recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out of last weeks clash with Man City, while new signing Juan Cuadrado could make his debut following a deadline day move from Fiorentina.

Diego Costa serves the second of his three game ban following his stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can so Didier Drogba could start up front.

Villa are hoping to recall Ron Vlaar with the skipper back in full training this week after several weeks out with a knee injury.

However, Philippe Senderos remains out with a calf problem so he joins Libor Kozak and Joe Cole on the sidelines.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Aston Villa 0-2 Chelsea: The hosts are having a torrid time of it and I don’t see it getting any better against the Premier League leaders, so I expect Chelsea to come away with all three points tomorrow.

Betting Tips

Chelsea are the favourites for the game at best odds of 4/11 but you can get a 0-2 away win at odds of 24/5. I fancy Eden Hazard to open the scoring in the game at odds of 4/1 and we combine that with a 2-0 win then we get very tempting odds of 14/1.

BACK CHELSEA TO WIN 2-0 AT  ODDS OF 24/5

What team would you like to see start and whats your predicted score for the game?