Date: Saturday 11th
September 2021
Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: 17:30 BST
Back from a poorly
timed international break, today we can get back to the still new Premier
League season, as we host Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
We had a tough game
against Liverpool before the break, made tougher with the sending off of Reece
James before half-time but there’s no doubt we were the better side. There’s no
way Liverpool would have scored from open play but the penalty gifted them a
point, so it was 2 points dropped for us at Anfield.
Villa had the same score
line against Brentford at Villa Park before the break and whilst there’s no Jack Grealish to face today, Villa did some good business in the
market and aren’t a club lacking quality. This will be a tough game,
particularly with key players coming back from international duty.
The Villains did
well out of us last season, with a draw away in December, before beating us at
Villa Park on the final day. They haven’t beaten us at Stamford Bridge for 10
years, but if we want to stretch that to 11, we’ll need to show at least the same
level of energy and effort as our visitors today.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Thomas Tuchel, says “Yesterday
and today, the building was more or more full. Today, was the first day, we
have done it but it is not the nicest situation. You lack the feeling and rhythm.
Everyone has come from different trips, different styles of play, demanding
games and experiences. But in the end, once we enter the meeting room and watch
video sequences from us and Aston Villa, I demand full focus and motivation.
This is us and this is what we are up to.
We are playing at the highest level and we play for
Chelsea. When you arrive on Friday morning, no matter if you are tired, you
accept it. That’s no matter how tough your trip was, accept it and be fully
focused and motivated. This is how I felt the team on the training pitch and we
pushed them. […] This is an obstacle to overcome, the challenge for tomorrow
and we want to be on our highest level and we will not accept any excuses from
us.”
Aston Villa manager Dean
Smith, meanwhile, says “They’re Champions League winners, a fantastic team
with a fantastic coach. You can see from the start they’ve had that’s it’s
going to be a very tough game. We’ll go
in full of respect for them, but we certainly won’t fear them. We beat them in
the last game of last season, but Chelsea had an awful lot of chances in that
game. We’ll have to be better than we
were if we want to get something out of this game.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic (ankle) are
both out injured, whilst Thiago Silva could miss out because of
the enforcement of Fifa regulations. Reece James is suspended.
For
Aston Villa, today’s game comes too soon for Bertrand Traore, who has just
returned to training, and Emi Martinez and Emi Buendia both have to quarantine.
Leon Bailey, John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey are available.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Mendy; Azpilicueta,
Christensen, Chalobah, Rudiger; Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Mount, Havertz;
Lukaku
ASTON VILLA (Possible line-up): Steer;
Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; Bailey, McGinn, Luiz, El Ghazi; Ings, Watkins
LAST SEASON
Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa
(28th December 2020)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
CHELSEA: WWD
ASTON VILLA: LWD
OTHER STUFF
- Chelsea have lost
just one of their past 16 home league games against Aston Villa.
- Villa won the
reverse fixture 2-1 triumph on the final day of last season
- Villa lost 8-0 at
Chelsea in the Premier League on 23 December 2012.
- Chelsea can become
only the second club, after Manchester United, to win 600 Premier League games today.
- Two of the three
Premier League defeats under Tuchel have been in home games, with the other
coming away at Aston Villa.
- Chelsea’s seven
goals in all competitions this season were scored by seven different players.
- Aston Villa have
taken four points out of a possible nine so far this season
- Aston Villa have
scored a league-high three Premier League goals from set-pieces this season.
PREDICTION
BBC Sport: Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa
Sportsmole: Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa