Chelsea vs Aston Villa Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 10, 2015 @ 04:46 pm

Not many would've predicted Chelsea to be lying in 16th place heading into the middle of October but that is where the reigning Premier League champions currently find themselves. Jose Mourinho has been backed publicly by his players as Ramires and Diego Costa are the most recent to come out in the media and express their admiration for their manager and they've firmly reiterated that they're still playing for him and working just as hard as they ever have.

Even the man above Mourinho in the Chelsea hierarchy has come out and declared his backing for his man as Roman Abrahmovic has given Mourinho a vote of confidence and expressed that he is the man he wants at the club for the foreseeable future. Abrahmovic is usually ruthless and he's gone through a number of high profile managers since the Russian billionaire inherited the club in 2004. 

Sitting just 2 places below them in the table are Aston Villa who are severely feeling the effects of losing their 2 most influential players last season that were solely responsible for dragging them away from the relegation zone that threatened them last year when Tim Sherwood took over from Paul Lambert. However, Sherwood now finds himself in the first relegation spot and are already 4 points from their Midlands rivals West Brom in 17th. A Midlands derby victory over Birmingham City in the League Cup is the only result Villa have picked up in their last 5 as they've lost the other 4 with defeats to Leicester City, West Brom, Liverpool and Stoke City.

Aston Villa have been on the end of some hidings at Stamford Bridge in the past 5 years with memorable 7-1 and 8-0 defeats. Villa are a more organized team under Sherwood but their desperately falling short in front of goal with just 8 goals in 8 league matches. 

The international break certainly hasn't done Mourinho any favours as his 2 Serbian internationals both suffered injuries in their 2-0 victory in Albania. Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic have both been setback with injuries and will be assessed by the Chelsea medical team when they report back to the club. Ivanovic and Matic are 2 players Mourinho has criticized this season and even brought Matic off after 28 minutes despite the holding midfielder coming on as a half time substitute.

Diego Costa does make his return from a 3 match suspension for his altercation with Arsenal's Gabriel. Matic and Ivanovic are the only potential threats to join Thibaut Courtois on the injury table as the Belgian goalkeeper could be ruled out till Deember with a knee injury. Aston Villa are rather favourably using the international break to nurture their wounded players back to full health. Sherwood is hoping that the two week gap will give Ciaran Clark, Adama Traore and Gabby Agbonlahor the chance to get back to full fitness.

Chelsea

Stats: W-2 L-4 D-2

Recent Form - LLDWW

Aston Villa

Stats: W-1 L-6 D-1

Recent Form - LLWLL

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) - Begovic, Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Rahman, Ramires, Fabregas, Willian, Hazard, Oscar, Diego Costa.

Aston Villa (4-3-3) - Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Lescott, Amavi, Veretout, Westwood, Gueye, Sinclair, J.Ayew, Gestede.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Chelsea - Matic (inj), Ivanovic (inj), Courtois (inj)

Aston Villa - Okore (inj), Gardner (inj)

League Positions