Aston Villa travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Sunday, as we look to bounce back from disappointment in Europe in midweek.
After a dramatic late comeback against Crystal Palace last weekend, it had been hoped that result would be a catalyst for our season to find better consistency.
READ MORE: Absence of influential Villa figure felt in disappointing defeat
Unfortunately, a 3-2 defeat away at Legia Warsaw wasn’t the start to our Europa Conference League campaign that we expected, and so a reaction is needed once again from the Villa players to bounce back from that disappointment.
Having picked up a 2-0 win on our last trip to Stamford Bridge in April, Villa will hopefully be able to produce a repeat performance and secure consecutive Premier League victories over Chelsea for the first time in 30 years.
Rotation expected, stronger Villa XI
Naturally, Unai Emery will go with his strongest available XI for this encounter as we’ll likely see further rotation in midweek in the Carabao Cup against Everton.
That in turn should see Matty Cash, Pau Torres, Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins come back in, while it remains to be seen if the duo discussed further below are fit enough to start too.
Emery gave little away on Friday in his shortened press conference in terms of team news, but if there are no fresh setbacks after the trip to Warsaw, it’s likely that long-term absentees Emiliano Buendia and Tyrone Mings, coupled with Diego Carlos, Bertrand Traore and Tim Iroegbunam, are the only ones to miss out this weekend.
Ramsey, Moreno step up comebacks
It was quite a surprise to see Jacob Ramsey get 25 minutes or so in midweek, as it’s understood that he had only returned to full group training earlier in the week.
Nevertheless, that was an important boost for Emery to have the 22-year-old back, and he made a positive impression in limited minutes which was good to see, as we’ve certainly missed his presence.
That left-sided tandem with Alex Moreno can’t be restored quick enough, as ultimately the Villa duo make such a crucial impact in both phases of the game for us, and had a significant influence on our good form under Emery last season.
In turn, it’s hoped that if they’re still not quite ready to start, they can at least both put in a decent shift off the bench to build their match fitness.
Clean sheet away from home a key objective
Our victory last weekend made it 10 consecutive wins at home for Villa across all competitions, but our away form hasn’t been good enough so far this season.
After shipping five and three goals at Newcastle Utd and Liverpool respectively, we conceded another three at Legia Warsaw last time out, and that will be a priority for Emery and the players to improve upon.
Villa haven’t kept a clean sheet away from home since that win at Chelsea in April, and while we’ll need to be more defensively resolute as a unit on Sunday, it’s also critical that we dictate tempo and possession through the entire starting XI to gain the level of control that is so important to Emery’s way of playing.
That means better composure and patience even when under pressure, and so particularly with Torres and Luiz coming back into the side, we’ll hopefully produce a more assured performance.
Watkins looking to end PL goal drought
Despite providing two assists in five league games and scoring three in the Europa Conference League qualifying round, Ollie Watkins is still without a Premier League goal so far this season.
After a run of 11 league goals in 12 last season, he now has just one in his past 12 outings, and while he still plays a fundamental role for us with his work ethic, movement and ability to create space for others to be decisive, he’ll be desperate to get back on the scoresheet himself.
He found the back of the net in this fixture last season, and it’s hoped that he can deliver on Sunday to not only help us secure a positive result, but to also give himself an important confidence boost.
