Aston Villa v Chelsea Preview – Ins, Outs, Stats, Tips

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Villa Park – Saturday May 11 2013 12:45 BST; Referee: L. Mason

Out since December with a knee injury, Chelsea could welcome back Oriol Romeu whilst there are injury doubts for Ryan Bertrand, Jon Obi Mikel and Eden Hazard. For Villa, Marc Albrighton, Richard Dunne, Gary Gardner and Chris Herd are still out injured as Manager Paul Lambert should name the same team that beat Norwich 2-1.  Matt Lowton has a thigh injury and will face a late fitness test.

A victory over the Blues finally guarantees Aston Villa Premier League safety, and they are hitting form just at the right time for this home fixture.

Chelsea look to complete a good finish to the season even though Spurs held them at the Bridge on Wednesday night.  Rafa Benitez will no doubt rotate the squad again, replacing Cahill,  Luiz, Hazard and Torres with Terry, Lampard, Moses and Ba.  How Villa must envy that luxury.  But they’ll need fresh legs as the team completes a punishing schedule.

Given the tiredness factor for the Blues and the form that Villa are in at the moment, this should be a lot tighter than the previous one sided meeting at Stamford Bridge.

Aston Villa v Chelsea Stats

  • Villa have won just three out their last eleven home games
  • Christian Benteke has scored more Premier League goals in 2013 than any other player (13 goals)
  • Chelsea’s recent record at Villa Park is good, winning twice, drawing once and losing once in the last four encounters there
  • Who could forget this one.  The last time Fernando Torres scored in the Premier League was against Villa in their 8-0 thrashing which was Villa’s biggest Premier League defeat ever

Aston Villa v Chelsea Tips

Half Time Score: Aston Villa 0 Chelsea 1
Full Time Score: Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 2
First goalscorer:  Demba Ba

Get the best odds for these Aston Villa v Chelsea tips at bet365 (includes £200 free bets) and BetFred (£50 free bets).

Likely team line-ups:

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Bennett, Westwood, Delph, Sylla, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Weimann

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Ramires, Moses, Mata, Oscar, Ba