Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Chelsea vs Aston Villa in the Premier
League on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm.
Team news
Chelsea will be without injured N'Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic for
Saturday's visit of Aston Villa.
Striker Romelu Lukaku is available after recovering from injury, but the
Blues are likely to be without defender Thiago Silva due to FIFA's five-day
international ban, while Reece James in suspended.
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will be absent from a league game for the first
time in his Aston Villa career due to quarantine rules which also apply to
Argentina team-mate Emiliano Buendia.
John McGinn, Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey are available but the trip to
Stamford Bridge comes too soon for Bertrand Traore, who has only just
returned to training after injury.
Opta stats
Chelsea have lost just one of their last 16 home league games against Aston
Villa (W11 D4), going down 3-1 in December 2011.
Aston Villa won their last Premier League meeting with Chelsea, winning 2-1
on the final day of last season. They've not won consecutive league games
against the Blues since October 1993 under Ron Atkinson.
Since Thomas Tuchel's first game in charge of Chelsea, only Manchester City
(51) have won more Premier League points than the Blues (45 - W13 D6 L3).
The Blues also have the meanest defence in that run (excluding the promoted
sides) with just 14 goals conceded.
Aston Villa won three of their six Premier League games in London last
season (D1 L2), as many victories as they'd managed in their previous 29
top-flight games in the capital (W3 D4 L22).
Chelsea have won 599 Premier League games (D274 L244) and would become the
second team to reach 600 in the competition with victory here (Manchester
United, 689).
Two of Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel's three Premier League defeats have
been in home games, with the other coming away against Aston Villa. The last
Chelsea boss to lose consecutive league games against the Villans was Bobby
Campbell in 1990.
Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has scored in each of his last five Premier
League appearances against Aston Villa, netting six goals in total in this
run. The Belgian is looking for his first top-flight goal at Stamford
Bridge, in what would be his 11th appearance at the ground in the
competition.
Danny Ings has been involved in eight goals in his last nine Premier League
starts (6 goals, 2 assists), registering a goal involvement in all three of
his appearances for Aston Villa so far (2 goals, 1 assist).
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