Match Week 35 , Match Day LIVE
Aston Villa Vs Chelsea at the Villa Park in Birmingham , UK,’s second largest City .
Time -8.00 pm

STAR MATCH OF WEEKEND.

Will Chelsea s woes and misery continue at the hands of a tactically superior Aston Villa this weekend , as they struggle for a place in European football next season ????

The Blues must have a response to a humbling London derby loss to Arsenal.
Chelsea must have an immediate response as they travel to face Aston Villa in another daunting trip.
The Blues were thumped 5-0 by Arsenal last time out in a hapless display, and now face a Villa side who are closing in on a top-four finish.
Mauricio Pochettino and his players will be expected to respond from a record defeat to the Gunners and keep their faint hopes of qualifying for Europe alive.

Since losing 4-1 at Manchester City at the beginning of April, Aston Villa have collected seven points from their last three Premier League games to put themselves in the driving seat to secure their first top-four finish since 1995-96.
The Lions were forced to play out a 3-3 draw with Brentford a few weeks ago, but they have since beaten both Arsenal and Bournemouth, with goals from Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey securing a comeback victory – their 20th of the season – over the Cherries at Villa Park last weekend.

Aston Villa will be able to call upon influential midfielder Douglas Luiz again after serving a two-game ban. Nicolo Zaniolo has picked up a muscle injury which is likely to rule him out.
Chelsea were without Cole Palmer, Malo Gusto and Ben Chilwell, along with seven other longer-term absentees, for the 5-0 loss to Arsenal. Palmer was sidelined with an illness so should return, but the other two are facing longer periods on the sidelines.
Palmer was spotted in training on Thursday, along with Reece James and Christopher Nkunku – alhough the latter two are extremely unlikely to play. Enzo Fernandez is totally ruled this season after surgery on a hernia.

Unai Emery, who extended his contract as Villa manager until 2027 on Tuesday, has four games
remaining to secure Champions League football for the West Midlands outfit, who sit fourth in the table and can move nine points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a win over Chelsea, although Spurs will then have three games in hand, starting with the North London derby on Sunday.
Aston Villa are sure to have one eye on their Europa Conference League semi-final with Olympiacos next week, but they must first shift their focus to Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea and will endeavour to complete their first league double over the Blues since 1989-90, after winning 1-0 in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge in September last year.

Only the current top three in the Premier League have accumulated more home points at this stage of the season than Aston Villa (38), who have also won four of their last five matches at Villa Park in all competitions, but Emery’s men were beaten the last time they played host to Chelsea, losing 3-1 in an FA Cup fourth-round replay in February.

After putting together a promising eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions, including a thumping 6-0 home win over Everton, Chelsea have since been brought back down to earth, with a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals followed just three days later by an emphatic five-goal drubbing by Arsenal in the Premier League.
Leandro Trossard netted an early opener for the Gunners, before Kai Havertz haunted his former club with two second-half goals, and Ben White was also at the double to condemn Chelsea, who were wasteful once again in front of goal, to their 11th league defeat of the season.

Aston Villa are a superior team across the park to Chelsea and will know another victory will all but secure Champions League football next season. The Blues will need to be at their best to leave Villa Park with anything, and they have not hit those heights for some time.

Chelsea’s struggles in front of goal have been evident in recent matches, but the expected return of top scorer Palmer would be a huge boost for the Blues against a Villa outfit that have only kept two clean sheets in their last 11 league games.
With that in mind as well as the previous three meetings between the two clubs this season, a closely-fought yet entertaining contest could be in store, one that may result in the spoils being shared or a winner emerging , other things being equal .

Predictions – 2-3.

Happy Viewing And Happy Weekend .
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