Match Preview: Aston Villa v Chelsea

Jose hates playing at Villa Park

Who are we playing?
Chelsea on Saturday 7th February at 3pm

Where are we playing?
Villa Park

Can I go?
Tickets remain available but (amazingly given the circumstances) they are selling fast, so get in quick if you want your favourite spot.

Randy Lerner

Easy to get to?
Yep, but if you are going through town, be aware that they buggering up all the roads near Paradise Circle as they (painfully slowly) knock down the old library.

Can I watch it on telly?
Saturday 3 o'clocker, so not officially available on UK telly, though there are plenty of web streams and loads of pubs will screen the game live, but they can't hear you boo unless you're there


Big game?
Huge.

Paul Lambert might have got away with losing at Arsenal but getting thumped by five and then going into denial about how abject his side were, well that is unbelievable. May be we could get him relieved on medical grounds because he's clearly living on a different planet to the rest of us.

The really annoying thing about how much we are struggling is that we are doing it in a pretty poor Premier League. Chelsea are one of the better teams but still can be suspect defensively at times and it'd be worth throwing the kitchen sink at them, just to see a league goal again, even if we do get beat in the process.

Why not start both Carles Gil and Scott Sinclair and see how they get on? If we're rampaging towards the Holte End, it'll quickly get the crowd back on side. Much more "sideways, backwards"  football though and the booing will only get worse, even if there are fewer of us in the ground to do it.

Chelsea have multiple attacking threats and are highly unlikely not to score, so let's trying to at least get on the scoresheet eh?

Once we get one, we'll get more.

Lovely Aubergines

Do Chelsea have any famous fans? 
Well there's Tim Lovejoy, Lord Coe off of the Olympics and of course Nigella Lawson. There's nothing better we like than to watch Nigella drizzle olive oil over her aubergines...

However, we've got fiddle playing scruffbox Nigel Kennedy.

So we win.

Who's playing for us?
Lambo isn't  really in a position to make sweeping changes but Westwood must be knocking on the door for a recall, especially given how inept Carlos Sanchez performed at Arsenal and how anonymous Tom Cleverley seems to be.



Who's playing for them?

Cesc Fabregas might not be be fit,  which could open the door for new signing Juan Cuadrado to make his  debut.  Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho  is already without suspended striker Diego Costa.


Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

Get yer cards out for the lads

• Liverpool have beaten us 58 times while we have 57 wins. There have been 34 draws.

• Staggeringly, Jose Mourinho has yet to win a match at Villa Park

• Our last win over Chelsea was at Villa Park in March last year, Fabian Delph nicking the winner in a fiery encounter that saw Willian and Ramires sent off 

• Chelsea's last Villa Park win was in May 2013, courtesy of two Frank Lampard goals after Big Chris Benteke had given us the lead.

Prediction
Going for a 3-0 Chelsea win.