Aston Villa and Chelsea go head-to-head at Villa Park on Saturday night with both sides in desperate need of three points to help get their European hopes back on track.
Unai Emery's men head into this match winless in their last five Premier League matches, picking up four draws and one defeat in the process. In recent weeks, dropped points at home has summed up Villa's poor run of form of late, but the Villans will be hoping to turn one point into three against an out-of-sorts Chelsea side.
The Blues have continued to struggle in 2025 and most recently fell to back-to-back defeats away at Brighton, losing 2-1 in the FA Cup fourth round before meeting in the league last Friday, as they were dismantled 3-0 by the Seagulls.
Enzo Maresca's side have won just two of their last nine Premier League matches and the pressure is starting to mount on the Chelsea head coach. However, three points at Villa Park may well provide a much needed boost to the West Londoners' top four hopes ahead of two favourable home fixtures against Southampton and Leicester.
The two sides faced off at Stamford Bridge at the start of December, which Chelsea comfortably won 3-0 thanks to goals from Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer. The West Londoners pose a strong recent record at Villa Park, winning on six of their last eight visits and losing just once.
Last season, the Blues defeated Aston Villa 3-1 in an FA Cup fourth round replay whilst in the league, the points were shared after Chelsea came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, but were denied all three points as a stoppage time goal from current Villa loanee Axel Disasi was ruled out by VAR.
Victory on Saturday for Maresca's side could see them move back into the Champions League places, whilst three points for the Villans may well get their top four hopes back on track. An intruging encounter awaits at Villa Park.
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Team News
Aston Villa
Defender Ezri Konsa and winger Leon Bailey have missed Villa's last two matches through injury and both face late fitness tests ahead of the Chelsea clash. Unai Emery will be hoping Konsa is available to start, due to loan signing Axel Disasi being ineligible to face his parent club.
Pau Torres, Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara all remain sidelined through injury, but the trio should be back within the next two to three weeks. Meanwhile, Ross Barkley is set to return to training next week.
Chelsea
Enzo Maresca will be without Noni Madueke for the trip to Villa Park after the winger sustained a hamstring injury in last week's defeat at Brighton. Madeueke's injury is yet another huge loss to the Chelsea attack, with Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu also sidelined.
Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile remained ruled out as well, but the pair are scheduled to make a return to the squad in the coming weeks. Belgian midfielder Romeo Lavia, meanwhile, is unlikely to be back until after the international break.
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Likely Line-Ups
Aston Villa: Martinez; Garcia, Bogarde, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins
Chelsea: Jorgensen; James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Sancho; Nkunku
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Key Players
Aston Villa: Ollie Watkins
Having scored in his last two matches, Ollie Watkins is in great form ahead of the visit of Chelsea and the striker will be hoping to make it three in three against a Blues defence that has kept just one clean sheet in twelve matches.
The 29-year-old has 12 goals to his name this season and despite rumours linking him with a move to Arsenal in the January transfer window, Watkins remains committed to Aston Villa and continues to find the back of the net on a regular basis.
Against a defence as poor as Chelsea's, you wouldn't bet against Watkins scoring on Saturday evening.
Chelsea: Cole Palmer
Chelsea supporters have had very little to celebrate in recent weeks and their recent poor form has certainly been a cause for concern. Things don't seem to be improving any time soon.
The injury to Nicolas Jackson has proven to be a big loss for the Blues which was very clearly noticed in last week's defeat to Brighton with the lack of attacking threat shown. Even Cole Palmer has struggled to work his magic of late.
Despite that, Palmer is still more than capable of causing problems to a Villa defence that is also prone to conceding goals. Maresca will need Palmer at his very best if Chelsea are to come away with all three points.
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Match Details
Where is the game being played?
The match will be taking place at Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa since 1897 which has a capacity of 42,785.
What time is kick-off?
The match will kick-off at 5:30pm GMT.
How can I watch?
Viewers in the UK will be able to watch the match on Sky Sports Main Event, with highlights of the game being uploaded on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel shortly after full-time.
