Aston Villa face Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday evening, and Unai Emery has named our starting line-up for the encounter.
Villa will be looking to secure an 11th consecutive win across all competitions at Stamford Bridge this weekend, with our form in recent months putting us in an excellent position both in the Premier League and Europa League.
However, Emery and the players will want to keep building on that and continue to win consistently to keep pushing to make this a memorable campaign, but it will certainly be a difficult task at Chelsea who will be desperate to close the current seven-point lead we have on them in the standings.
Want more Villa news? Subscribe to Talk Villa+ below for ad-free weekly newsletters, exclusive articles and much more sent directly to you. The TalkVilla podcast is also now available, have a listen, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or YouTube. UTV!
As per Villa’s post below, Emery has made two changes to the side that defeated Manchester United last time out, with Emiliano Buendia and Donyell Malen coming in to replace Amadou Onana and Ollie Watkins.
Although we do lose Onana’s physicality and presence in midfield, dropping Youri Tielemans deeper allows him to have a bigger influence on proceedings which is a positive, while Buendia will add tenacity and quality to our play in the final third.
Further, he’s had a decisive impact on games this season, and he’ll be hoping to make his mark on this clash to help us continue our winning streak.
Meanwhile, Watkins will no doubt be disappointed over being dropped, but Malen gives us a fresh option to lead the line, and hopefully the Dutch international can be a more clinical presence in front of goal to really make the most of any openings we create.
It promises to be a difficult test as Chelsea have real quality in their side, but Villa will be confident about giving a good account of ourselves, and hopefully that leads to securing all three points.
Team news for #CHEAVL is in ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/q6HokBdMFx
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 27, 2025
