(Football news) The Blues were defeated 5-0 by London rivals Arsenal on Tuesday, while the Lions overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat Bournemouth the previous weekend.
Aston Villa has amassed seven points from their last three Premier League games after suffering a 4-1 loss at Manchester City at the start of April. This has put them in a strong position to clinch their first top-four finish since 1995–96.
A few weeks ago, the Lions had to settle for a 3-3 draw with Brentford, but since then, they have defeated Arsenal and Bournemouth. Last Saturday, the Lions defeated the Cherries at Villa Park with to goals from Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby, and Leon Bailey. It was their 20th season-long comeback victory.
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.
Amid reports claiming Chelsea’s hierarchy are yet to decide whether Mauricio Pochettino will remain in charge of the club next season, the Argentine coach is under pressure to deliver European football for the West Londoners, who sit ninth in the top-flight standings and three points behind the top seven, while they are six points adrift of Manchester United in sixth spot.
Crucially, though, Chelsea still has a game in hand on each of the three clubs above them. For that reason, they are looking forward to Saturday’s trip to Villa Park, where they have defeated Villa in seven of their previous nine away Premier League games and scored 20 goals.
That being said, Chelsea has only won two of the last eight games played in the top division outside of London, losing the other five and drawing the other two. Additionally, Chelsea has dropped its last two league encounters with Villa; their last losing streak against the Lions was four games, which occurred between 1978 and 1984.
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