Aston Villa face Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, and Unai Emery has named his starting line-up.
Villa will be looking to bounce back after disappointment following our 3-2 defeat at Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League in midweek, but it’s another difficult trip away from home that awaits us this weekend.
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While we may well have picked up a 2-0 win over Chelsea on our last visit to west London, and Mauricio Pochettino’s side aren’t at their best yet this season, it remains a tough assignment given the quality at his disposal.
In turn, we’ll have to produce a much-improved performance compared to the one we saw in Warsaw on Thursday, and Emery had been expected to make multiple changes to his starting Villa XI having rotated last time out.
The Villa boss does indeed make changes to the side that started in Europe, as he reverts back to the starting XI that faced Crystal Palace last weekend.
That sees Pau Torres, Matty Cash, Douglas Luiz, Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins come back into the line-up, and so it’s a strong Villa side as expected.
There is a change on the bench too with Omari Kellyman being included in the matchday squad as Alex Moreno drops out, and so it’s hoped that the Spaniard has been left behind as a precaution rather than a potential setback.
It’s an important test for Villa as we look to implement our preferred game-plan and style of play more effectively away from home, and this side will hopefully give us the best possible chance of doing that.
Your Aston Villa team to face Chelsea! 👊 pic.twitter.com/BKlbje7gEW
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) September 24, 2023