Chelsea bid to kick-start their stuttering season when they play Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are down in 14th place in the Premier League after a slow start and will kick-off eight points outside the top four.
It has been a tough start to the Mauricio Pochettino era in west London, with fans becoming understandably impatient as another enormous summer transfer spend is yet to provide tangible results amid a latest ongoing injury crisis.
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Chelsea face a Villa side who lie seventh after bouncing back from their heavy defeat at Liverpool with a brilliant late show to come back and defeat Crystal Palace in dramatic fashion last weekend, though Unai Emery’s side will be wounded after a surprise loss at Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
Date, kick-off time and venue
Chelsea vs Aston Villa is scheduled for a 2pm BST kick-off on Sunday September 24, 2023.
The match will take place at Stamford Bridge.
Where to watch Chelsea vs Aston Villa
TV channel and live stream: Having not been initially selected for TV coverage and then moved from its Saturday 3pm slot - when the TV blackout is imposed across English football - to Sunday afternoon, this game will not be broadcast live in the UK.
Highlights: Highlights will be available on Match of the Day 2, which starts at 10:30pm on BBC One.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog, with expert analysis from Nizaar Kinsella at the ground.
Chelsea vs Aston Villa team news
Moises Caicedo could return for Chelsea after missing the drab draw with Bournemouth, while Armando Broja is being assessed.
Marc Cucurella and Noni Madueke may be available, though all of Christopher Nkunku, Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana are missing.
For Villa, Emi Buendia, Tyrone Mings, Diego Carlos and Timothy Iroegbunam are all out, though former Chelsea forward Bertrand Traore is working his way back from injury.
Jacob Ramsey is available, while Alex Moreno is pushing to start.
Chelsea vs Aston Villa prediction
Chelsea’s blunt attack go up against a Villa defence that is capable of having real off-days, though Emery did make five changes for the dispiring Conference League loss in Warsaw amid an early season fixture pile-up.
Pochettino will be concerned with Villa’s forward threats, with Emery’s side having scored 21 goals already across all competitions this season in comparison to Chelsea’s measly seven.
This is far from an ideal game for the Blues - who have gone consecutive matches without scoring - to target a bounce-back and they will have to hope that their opponents show some tiredness after their European exertions.
Despite them being at home it’s hard to forecast anything more than a draw for Chelsea at this point, and some may feel they’d be very fortunate to even get that without huge improvements.
2-2 draw.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
These two sides exchanged 2-0 away wins in the league last season, with Chelsea going down at the Bridge in April thanks to goals from Ollie Watkins and John McGinn.
Chelsea wins: 68
Aston Villa wins: 59
Draws: 35
Chelsea vs Aston Villa match odds
Chelsea to win: 17/20
Aston Villa to win: 3/1
Draw: 29/10
