Next for Villa: Chelsea

Aston Villa Team News:

Thomas Sorenson and Patrik Berger are both still unavailable, as is new signing Curtis Davies.

After the 5-0 mauling of Wrexham in the week, a few players will be hoping to stake a claim for a place. The most likely to get involved is Shaun Maloney, although Luke Moore could also feel a little unlucky not to get his first start of the season.

Of course, we could still go and sign somebody before midnight…

Aston Villa Player To Watch:

I’ve actually surprised even myself a little here, but I am going for Nigel Reo-Coker.

The reasoning being, at the moment we look very good going forward, and if NRC can get about the middle breaking up the Chelsea attacks, I genuinely believe we have enough going forward to cause them a few problems.

Chelsea Team News:

Frank Lampard is likely to be out. While I am not a huge fan of his, he is certainly on a goal-scoring run so his absence can only be a good thing.

However, Andriy Shevchenko is avilable for the selection for the first time this season, and Florent Malouda is still hopeful of making the game as he looks to shake off a knock.

Chelsea Player To Watch:

With Frank Lampard out, a little extra ‘goal-getting’ responsibility falls on the Chelsea players and probably no more so than Didier Drogba.

On his game, he is one of the best in the world. Unfortunately, is it just me or does he do it all with absolutely ridiculous hair?!

Match Stats & Facts:

Chelsea are currently on an 18 match unbeaten run.

As for the recent head-to-head clashes, bit of a mixed bag…

We have not beaten Chelsea in seven league and cup matches, with our last victory coming in April 2004.

However, the last time we lost to Chelsea was on in March 1999, and we have drawn on the last three visits.

Prediction:

With that in mind, I’m going for a 1-1 draw. Although, with my first match preview prediction being 2-1 and us actually winning 5-0, maybe I should have more faith!