Chelsea will be looking to return to winning ways when they host Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. The Blues have lost their last two Premier League games, while Villa are unbeaten in their last two.
Frank Lampard’s side suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to struggling West Ham United in the previous round. Despite dominating large portions of the game, Aaron Cresswell’s 48th minute strike was ultimately the difference between the two teams.
Consecutive defeats have left Chelsea stuck in 4th place in the table. The Blues are three points behind third-place Manchester City but still have a healthy six-point gap between them and Tottenham in fifth.
Considering the circumstances, Lampard will be extremely happy with how his team has performed so far in 2019/20. However, he will be desperate for his side to get back on track following two disappointing games.
Following a run of three league defeats, Aston Villa have moved up to 15th after a couple of impressive results. Villa breezed past Newcastle on Matchday 14, before securing a point at Old Trafford in the previous round.
Jack Grealish opened the scoring against Manchester United with a stunning curling effort. Villa then conceded two sloppy goals, but Tyrone Mings rescued a point just after the hour mark.
Dean Smith’s men will be full of confidence heading to Stamford Bridge, so we could be set for an interesting encounter.
With that being said, Aston Villa have struggled against Chelsea in recent years. Chelsea have beaten Villa in eight of their last ten top-flight meetings.
The Blues haven’t lost to Villa at home since 2011, while Villa have only managed to score once in the past four meetings between the two teams.
Lampard will be hoping that he can recall first-choice striker Tammy Abraham following injury. Chelsea struggled without their main man for goals against West Ham, as Olivier Giroud failed to fill Abraham’s boots.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also close to returning to first-team action, but Antonio Rudiger and Ross Barkley will be unavailable for selection on Wednesday.
As for Aston Villa, Anwar El Ghazi is a doubt after the winger went off injured in the first half against Manchester United. Frederic Guilbert is suspended after picking up five yellow cards this season.
It’s set to be a tight match, but Chelsea should have enough firepower to come away with all three points.
Given the side’s respective goalscoring records, both teams are likely to score. However, Forebet predicts that Chelsea will come out on top.