Match Preview: Villa v Chelsea

Jose has never won at Villa Park

Who are we playing?

Chelsea

Where are we playing?
Villa Park Saturday 5.30pm

Can I go?
Tickets on general sale so yes, you can indeed.

Can I watch it live on the telly?
You certainly can if you (or your pub of choice) have the delights of Sky Sports who are screening the game though you are likely to have to suffer Jaime Redknapp

Dirty Chelsea

Big game?
Meh...

It's massive for Chelsea as they pursue the Premier League title against the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. The Londoners shouldn't be complacent though. Villa have taken points off all the teams Mourinho's men are competing against and felt very hard done by to lose at Stamford Bridge back in August, where referee Kevin Friend proved to be no friend to us.

Not massive from a Villa point of view because most of us would consider getting anything for this game as a bonus, but win, lose or draw, it's vital that Villa deliver a decent performance to keep the momentum going after the win against Norwich.

Charlize doesn't mind a bit of blue

Do Chelsea have any famous fans?
Well there's David Mellor who used to be an MP and John Major who used to a PM. We're slightly more impressed to hear that Charlize Theron has been seen down at the Bridge.

However, we've got Godber out of Porridge.

So we win.

Bianca's bloke can't play due to loan rules

Who's playing for us?
The bad news is that we won't be seeing Charles N'Zogbia this season while Chris Herd is out for personal reasons. Kozak is, of course,  ruled out but barring any surprises or training knocks, everyone else should be vying for selection though it's probably too soon for the fast recovering Jores Okore.

Loan rules will mean Ryan Bertrand can't play.

Who's playing for them?
Whoever Jose picks will be good but we're hoping for a John Terry start, purely because he gets the crowd singing, even if those songs are none too complimentary



Any useless stats?
Of course, here you go:

Harold Halse

• Chelsea just have the edge having beaten us 57 times to our 56 wins. There have been 34 draws.

• Our last win over Chelsea at Villa Park was way back in October 2009. Richard Dunne and his defensive partner James Collins got the Villa goals after Didier Drogba had given the Londoners the lead.

• Chelsea's first Villa Park victory came in October 1913. They won 2-1, one of their goals coming from Harold Halse who had only recently moved from Villa.

• Villa biggest win over Chelsea came at Villa Park in April 1952. Billy Goffin claimed a hat-trick in a 7-1 victory.

Petr Cech

He said, She said...
“It’s a great game to play in. They’re going for the title and for the Champions League, so they’re going for big trophies and we have to try to stop it or try to derail it, for ourselves as well"  Paul Lambert

“We go game by game. My next game is Villa away, a difficult place to go, and we want to win there again.”  Petr Cech


Prediction
We think Benteke will try really hard to stay on the goal trail, but Chelsea will throw the kitchen sink at us. Forecasting a plucky performance but ultimately a Chelsea 3-2 win.