Aston Villa vs Chelsea Prediction and Match Preview

Aston Villa vs Chelsea
England – Premier League
Date: Sunday, 26 December 2021
Kick-off at 17:30 UK/ 18:30 CET
Venue: Villa Park.

Chelsea will look to stay in the title race when they face Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday evening.

The Blues dropped four points in total in back-to-back draws with Everton and Wolverhampton, and, no doubt, they will give 100% to return to winning ways this weekend.

All Lukaku, Werner, and Hudson-Odoi have been tested positive for coronavirus, while Ben Chilwell misses out with a knee injury. Kai Havertz is widely expected to lead the line for the capital club.

The Villans, on the other hand, aim to build on a 2-0 win over Norwich City as they were not in action at the weekend.

New boss Steven Gerrard is doing a good job with the Villa Park outfit, and given the number of absentees in the away team, the share of spoils is on the horizon.

All Davis, Sanson, Traore, Nakamba, El Ghazi, and Bailey are injured for the hosts.

Aston Villa vs Chelsea Head-to-head (h2h)

Teams Aston Villa Chelsea played so far 45 matches.
Aston Villa won 9 direct matches. Chelsea won 24 matches. 12 matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches both teams scored a 2.78 goals per Match.

Aston Villa vs Chelsea Prediction

Aston Villa in actual season average scored 1.74 goals per match. In 9 (100.00%) matches played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 6 (66.67%) matches in season 2021 played at home was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.

Chelsea average scored 2.07 goals per match in season 2021. In 11 (73.33%) matches played away was total goals (team and opponent) Over 1.5 goals. In 8 (53.33%) matches played away team was total goals (team and opponent) Over 2.5 goals.

Team News:

Despite the prospect of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Romelu Lukaku returning to the squad after coronavirus, neither player are expected to be risked from the start.

With Chelsea now having more of their midfielders available, Mateo Kovacic could partner Jorginho in the centre, with N’Golo Kante playing in a more advanced role alongside Mason Mount.

While Trevoh Chalobah should feature in the back three, Hakim Ziyech is a doubt with a calf injury, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kai Havertz are likely to miss out due to coronavirus.

Gerrard has not disclosed which Villa players face missing this game for the same reasons, leaving it difficult to predict a starting lineup with any degree of certainty.

The only confirmed absentees are Marvelous Nakamba, Leon Bailey and Bertrand Traore, all through injury.

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey; Buendia, Watkins, Young

Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Chalobah, Silva, Rudgier; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Kante, Mount; Pulisic