Match Preview: Aston Villa v Chelsea

By: Chris | February 20th, 2009

Aston Villa v Chelsea
Premier League
Villa Park
Saturday 21st February 2009, 12.45pm

In Premier League football, matches don’t come any bigger than this. With Manchester United turning the ‘big four’ into a big one, the real battle is between the pretenders: Liverpool, Villa, Chelsea and Arsenal. While Liverpool and Chelsea have second in their sights (even though their tedious arrogance means they won’t amend expectations), Villa would end the season now if the possibility were offered. Make no mistake, this match could make and break our season. But it could do the same for Chelsea.

Premier League Form Guide

Aston Villa: WWWWDW

Villa have not been defeated in the Premier League since November 9th, when Middlesbrough came to Villa Park, but we tasted domestic defeat for the first time since then last Sunday, being knocked out of the FA Cup by Everton. Recent wins over Sunderland, Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers have buoyed the mood at Villa, but we dropped two points at home to Wigan. On Wednesday, CSKA Moscow came to England and were exceptionally lucky to escape with a score draw.

Chelsea: DLWWLD

Chelsea’s poor form over recent months finally did for Luiz Felipe Scolari this month. Defeat to Manchester United and Liverpool did little to help Chelsea’s withering title chase, but it was draws with Fulham and Hull City that called their fight for second into question. Stoke City and Middlesbrough have recently been beaten in the league, Southend United and Watford in the FA Cup.

Team News

Brad Friedel will slot back into the goal for Villa after sitting out Wednesday’s draw with CSKA. Emile Heskey and James Milner are both hoping to be fit for Chelsea’s visit, while Martin Laursen, Nigel Reo-Coker, Carlos Cuellar and Freddie Bouma are all out. It’ll be interesting to see what Martin O’Neill does with the full backs. With Chelsea’s wide threat variously totally non-existent or absolutely spellbinding, it’s hard to predict whether to switch Luke Young back to left back with Craig Gardner at right, or keep Young right to keep that side strong, with Nicky Shorey playing left.

I think Gardner will get the nod.

Chelsea will be without left back Ashley Cole, who misses out suspension. They may also be missing Alex and Ricardo Carvalho through injury. Michael Mancienne is expected to feature at centre back, but Branislav Ivanovic is another possibility. John Terry returns from suspension.

Why Chelsea at home is a must-win

Because this, quite simply, is our biggest match for years. We need to win in order to cement our position in the fight for fourth – or third. This is a real acid test for the Villa, and could be a real turning point for both clubs. Three points would be a massive confidence boost for either.

Sadly, we also now need to win to stop two of our players, John Carew and Stiliyan Petrov, from looking like a pair of clowns following their attempts to wind up the Chelsea team. When are we going to learn? Martin O’Neill’s been victim to some ludicrously misleading journalism this week – typical pro-London bollocks from the London-based shitrags – but John and Stan have dropped a real clanger.

Does new manager syndrome apply when the opposition provides the team talk?

Betting

Outlet	Home Win	Draw	Away Win
Bet365	23/10	23/10	5/4
SkyBet	9/4	9/4	13/10
Paddy Power	9/4	21/10	13/10

Don’t ask me why, but I’ve got a great feeling abou this match. 2-1 Villa win. Mark Halsey won’t like that, it will mean the cheating bastard hasn’t achieved his objective. Pug-nosed scumbag. Come on you Lions!