Aston Villa vs Chelsea preview, team news, tickets and prediction

Premier League highflyers Aston Villa will welcome Chelsea to Villa Park for this crucial game. Unai Emery’s Villa have been excellent this season and have punched above their weights in its entirety with how they have managed to battle it out for a top-four place finish. On the other hand, Chelsea have blown hot and cold to a large extent and that has left them wandering around mid-table to a large extent.

Aston Villa received a brutal 5-1 humbling by Newcastle United at St James' Park in their season opener but the Villains bounced back from that set-back and have given a good account of themselves so far this season.

In terms of recruitment, Unai Emery and Aston Villa snapped up players like Moussa Diaby from German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, Spanish defender Pau Torres from La Liga club side Villarreal, Nicolo Zaniolo on loan from Turkish giants Galatasaray, Clement Lenglet also on loan from Barcelona, and Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans on a free transfer from Leicester City.

As per the departures, the likes of young center-forward Cameron Archer left for Sheffield United, Marvelous Nakamba joined Luton Town, and Keinan Davis signed for Serie A side Udinese Calcio. Veteran English left-back Ashley Young left for Everton on a free transfer while Philippe Coutinho and Morgan Sanson both sealed loan moves to Al-Duhail FC and OGC Nice respectively.

Aston Villa have done well to combine European football and the Premier League this season and the recent form has been quite decent. They look like a side that will finish in a European spot for the second season running which is a testament to the work the former PSG manager has done here.

Throughout the campaign, Emery's men recorded impressive victories against Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, and the like. It has been a good season already and they just need to get over the line and get the reward they duly deserve. They defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge but lost out to the Blues in the FA Cup and getting to beat the Londoners here again is going to be a huge task.

Meanwhile, Chelsea made significant investments during last summer, spending over £300 million on transfers. Among the notable arrivals were the £100 million acquisition Moisés Caicedo, who chose Chelsea over Liverpool, Robert Sánchez from Brighton, Axel Disasi and Lesley Ugochukwu from the French Ligue 1, Cole Palmer from rivals Manchester City, Nicolas Jackson from Laliga side Villarreal, Romeo Lavia from relegated Southampton, and Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig this summer.

The Blues then let go of Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Kalidou Koulibaly, Christian Pulisic, Edouard Mendy, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ethan Ampadu, Romelu Lukaku Callum Hudson-Odoi, César Azpilicueta, N'Golo Kanté, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Hakim Ziyech, Tiemoué Bakayoko, and a host of other young players. And of course, Mauricio Pochettino took over as coach in the summer. Unfortunately for Chelsea, Nkunku and Lavia were injured for a while but have finally made some appearances in the Premier League with the former scoring in the defeat at Wolves.

Chelsea have had a topsy-turvy campaign. They lost 2-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford before another 2-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park. Red Devils. They have also suffered losses to Newcastle United, Brentford, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, and West Ham this season. But aside from Manchester United, the Blues have not lost to any other member of the top six. In addition, they made it to the Carabao Cup final and that could see them return to Europe in one of those lesser competitions. Meanwhile, the Blues also drew both league games with Manchester City and defeated Spurs away from home. Generally, under Pochettino, the Chelsea have played well, but the results have not just panned out in their favor.

Aston Villa are a strong side when they play at home. As of the time of writing, only Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal have taken more points at home than the Birmingham side. So they could cause Chelsea a lot of problems by the time this encounter goes ahead, the Londoners have struggled against teams slightly better than them this campaign and that might be the case again here.

Match tickets

The epic match at Villa Park kicks off on Saturday 27th April 2024, at 3 PM UK time.

The magnificent 42,640-capacity stadium is the place to be for this clash between these two exciting teams.

Getting tickets for the Aston Villa v Chelsea tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.

Team news

Line-ups

Unai Emery's Aston Villa are quite solid on the counter and have enough players in their arsenal to trouble any team in the division. Goalkeeper Martinez remains one of the best in the league, while Watkins who has had a breathtaking season will be keen to extend his incredible form.

Midfielder Boubacar Kamara remains sidelined for the rest of the season, while Tyrone Mings could be available for this game.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Dendoncker, Luiz, McGin, Bailey, Tielemans, Watkins

In terms of injuries, the Blues have the biggest list of casualties this season. Reece James, Marc Cucurella, Lesley Ugochukwu, Trevor Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, Christopher Nkunku, Robert Sanchez, and the like have all spent a good amount of time in the physio’s room.

Meanwhile, Wesley Fofana is still recovering from an ACL injury and is not expected to feature at all this season.

Chelsea XI: Robert Sanchez; Levi Colwill, Chilwell, Reece James; Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo; Cole Palmer, Raheem Sterling, Jackson.

Prediction

This season, Aston Villa have gone a notch higher since they made it to Europe last campaign. Unai Emery’s side have beaten Arsenal and Manchester City at home this season, so Chelsea should not be a problem whatsoever.

However, Chelsea, despite their shortcomings this campaign, have shown class in some games this season. If they can put out a similar display that helped them beat the Villans in the FA Cup, they can walk away with something from this game.

Based on the above, a tight contest is expected and their fourth meeting of the season might just end in a stalemate.

Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea