By CFC Unofficial (Debs) (Chelsea 3 Aston Villa 0) , via Wikimedia CommonsChelsea FC are heading to the Lions Den of Villa Park to take on Aston Villa in a Premier League match that sees the team at the top of the Premier League table take on a team battling against relegation.
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Although Aston Villa are sometimes called the Lions, it appears they’re a bit toothless this season. Villa rank dead last in the Premier League in all goal related statistics.
In fact, when you include the 72 clubs of the Football League, Aston Villa ranks 92 of 92, dead last in English professional football when it comes to goals scored.
Graphic from @SkySports Super Sunday shows just how bad Aston Villa have been in front of goal this season #AVFC pic.twitter.com/Chv1WMzm7f
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 1, 2015
Ouch. That’s rough.
However we can’t take any game against Premier League opposition lightly. Just because they’re not scoring doesn’t mean we are guaranteed a victory, because if we don’t score either then the points are split. We must respect Aston Villa as an opponent, and I’m sure Jose Mourinho has instilled that in his charges. After the draining 1-1 draw with Manchester City last weekend, the Blues will need to refocus and be prepared for the match at hand.
That being said, Chelsea FC are at minimum a class above Aston Villa (perhaps even an entire grade) and the Blues should run roughshod over them. Fabregas is fit and acts as the heart of the team in midfield, our shiny new toy Juan Cuadrado could feature in Birmingham, and Eden Hazard must be salivating at the chance to play against a lower table side again. It should all come together for Chelsea.
Chelsea FC Team News
The news has been good from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. While Costa is still suspended, Cesc Fabregas has been cleared to return to action from injury. Filipe Luis is the only player out through injury, but we still might not see Fabregas start, that depends on how he trained with the side following injury. Mohamed Salah and Andre Schurrle are gone, but new signing Juan Cuadrado has joined the team and trained the last few days, so we could see him get his CFC debut. That would likely come from the bench, however.
Chelsea FC Predicted Starting XI
————————–Courtois—————————
—Ivanovic———–Terry——-Zouma———Azpilcueta
—————Fabregas————-Matic————–
—-Willian————-Oscar———-Hazard——-
—————————Remy————————
Predicted Result
Chelsea FC 4-0 Aston Villa.
After a tough match against Manchester City last weekend, I thoughly expect the Blues to score multiple goals and run Villa out of their home park. New signing Juan Cuadrado could well get his Blues debut against Villa, and I hope he does well and impresses his new boss.