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Not long now: Black Sabbath are blaring over the Tannoy and the Champions League qualification hopes of both teams are very much up in the air. Referee Michael Oliver leads both sets of players out on to the Villa Park pitch, their arrival greeted by the thick end of 43,000 supporters, the vast majority of whom will be hoping for a game every bit as entertaining – but slightly less end-to-end and even – as the match between Villa and Liverpool on Wednesday night. Kick-off will be along very shortly.
Today’s Premier League results
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Everton 2-2 Manchester United
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Arsenal 0-1 West Ham
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Bournemouth 0-1 Wolves
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Fulham 0-2 Crystal palace
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Ipswich Town 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur
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Southampton 0-4 Brighton
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Aston Villa v Chelsea
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Michael Oliver.
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Assistants: Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring.
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Fourth official: Dean Whitestone.
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VAR: Paul Tierney.
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Assistant VAR: Richard West.
Chelsea: Cole Palmer has created more chances than anyone but his team does not have a striker who can finish them, writes Ben McAleer.
Those teams: Enzo Maresca brings in Reece James in place of the injured Noni Madueke in the only change to the Chelsea team that started against Brighton last weekend, which means the visitors will almost certainly line up with three at the back.
Unai Emery makes four changes to the team that started against Liverpool in midweek. After two games out with injury, Ezri Konsa comes into the side in place of Axel Disasi, who is ineligible to play against his parent club, while Marcus Rashford, Lucas Digne and Andres Garcia drop to the substitutes’ bench. Jacob Ramsey, Ian Maasen and Matty Cash come into the side.
Aston Villa v Chelsea line-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, McGinn, Tielemans, Asensio, Ramsey, Rogers; Watkins.
Subs: Olsen, Zych, Digne, Garcia, Bogarde, Bailey, Malen, Rashford; Jimoh-Aloba.
Chelsea: Chelsea: Jorgensen, Gusto, James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucrella, Caicedo, Enzo, Palmer, Neto; Nkunku.
Subs: Sanchez, Acheampong, Samuels-Smith, Tosin, Dewsbury-Hall, Amougou, Sancho, George; Mhueka.
Early team news
Aston Villa are without their on-loan defender Axel Disasi, who is forbidden from playing against his parent club, which means Lamare Bogarde may have to step into the heart of their defence alongside Tyrone Mings. Boubacar Kamara, Amadou Onana, Pau Torres and Ross Barkley are all injured, while the participation of both Leon Bailey and Ezri Konsa is also in doubt.
For Chelsea, Nicolas Jackson, Mark Guiu, Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana and Omari Kelly are all sidelined with injury, while Mykhaylor Mudryk remains suspended. Benoit Badiashile is expected to undergo a pre-match fitness test but seems unlikely to start. Despite failing to impress since getting his opportunity to play in the first team, Christopher Nkunku seems likely to be given another start in the absence of anyone better.
Premier League: Aston Villa v Chelsea
Without a win in any of their past five league games, four of which have been drawn, Aston Villa welcome an out-of-sorts Chelsea side who travel to Villa Park after back-to-back league and FA Cup defeats at the hands of Brighton, who must wish they could play Enzo Maresca’s side every week.
While Villa have lost just once this season in front of their own fans, against Arsenal back in August, their habit of drawing too many games is costing them. Yesterday they learned they will be facing the Belgian side Club Brugge in the last 16 of the Champions League, a tie one presumes both they and their Belgian opponents will be confident of winning.
In the corresponding fixture at Stamford Bridge in early December, Chelsea produced a controlled and assured performance to run out fairly easy winners but go into this contest having won just three of their last 11 matches in all competitions. They have also failed to win any of their last six games away from home. Kick-off at Villa Park is at 5.30pm (GMT) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
