Aston Villa V Chelsea – Saturday 17th October

 

Kick-off: Saturday 17^th October – 12:45 GMT

Venue: Villa Park

TV Coverage: Sky Sports

 

 

 

Aston Villa

 

League Position: 7^th

Recent Form: WWWLD

 

Under the guidance of Martin O’Neill, Villa have worked themselves into a prominent position, with Aston Villa sitting rather cosily in seventh position, three points behind Man City in fourth, although Aston Villa do still have a game in hand over some. However, many were touting Aston Villa as possible top four contenders last term and look how that panned out. A lack of maturity from some of their younger players may have been the reason why they suddenly drifted away from the pack then, but that’s something we hope the Villa players will have took in their stride and learnt some harsh lessons from as they aim to go several better this time around.

   

Villa Park has been a hoodoo for Chelsea in recent visits, with Chelsea’s only win in nine away visits to Villa Park coming last season, in a narrow 1-0 victory. Villa were unbeaten in eight home encounters with Chelsea before then and they will be eager to reinforce that fortress feel to Villa Park on Saturday afternoon, although, Aston Villa have won just two of four at home this season, with a 1-1 draw with Man City & a 2-0 defeat to Wigan denting their home aurora.

   

The problem with Villa these days is you pretty much know what you’re getting and if you have the players equipped to handle what Villa have to offer then it’s pretty easy to maintain. Villa’s biggest assets are, of course, their pacey and skilful young wingers. Ashley Young & James Milner are both players with bags of potential, and they can be a right nuisance for even the best full-backs. But Chelsea do boast some of the best full-backs in the world in Ashley Cole & Jose Bosingwa so the England hopefuls will need to put in some shift if they are to have much success against the Chelsea defence this Saturday.

  

Emile Heskey is rumoured to be on his way out in January, with a lack of games the main reason as to why he wants out of Villa Park. Gabriel Agbonlahor (4 Goals) & John Carew (0 Goals) are O’Neill’s preferred starting pair up front, although, John Carew’s lack of goals this term could spring Martin O’Neill into action by re-selecting the England front man to the Villa fold. Would that be a good move? – Well, John Terry has been quoted as saying that Emile is a right handful on his day and if Terry finds him a pain the ass then he must have some good qualities. We say stick him in and make it an all England front duo for Villa.

 

 

Chelsea

 

League Position: 1st

Recent Form: WWWLW

 

Chelsea look a very generous price to comply at Villa Park in Saturday’s opener, in front of the SkySports cameras. Despite Chelsea’s rather average record at Villa Park in the past, we can’t see anything other than a Chelsea success, with the hunger of the players, especially their strikers, hopefully guiding them to all three points and us to a have successful prediction. An away win for Chelsea can be found at a best priced 10/11 with totesport, a stunning price when you consider that Chelsea should have far too much fire-power for a wannabe Villa side.

   

The only slight dent in our Chelsea confidence is the possibility of the 3-1 defeat away at Wigan, their last away outing in the league, still hanging over them. The entire squad has had plenty of time to digest that defeat though and the 2-0 victory over Liverpool just before the break should have erased any duelling bad memories of the visit to the DW stadium.

   

Before the defeat away at Wigan, Chelsea were unbeaten on the road in eight games, stretching back to the latter part of last season when they lost 1-0 at Tottenham. They had previously won seven of eight away fixtures in the Premiership and that just proves how resilient a side Chelsea are, no matter where they end up. They have already bolstered their away credentials with victories over Sunderland, Fulham & Stoke City, all tough venues to play in, so Chelsea’s away form, despite the recent loss to Wigan, has done our confidence no harm, just a whole world of good.

  

Didier Drogba has been the main man at Chelsea this season, scoring six in the league already. He appears to be in the zone right now, assisting both of Chelsea’s goals as they strolled past Liverpool a fortnight ago, and after scoring for his country during the International break, his confidence should be sky high and he also looks a great bet to make the score sheet on Saturday at odds of 7/4 with expekt.com, crazy odds!

 

 

Head-to-Head:

 

Aston Villa W: 1 Chelsea W: 4 Draws: 5

 

Villa have been something of a ‘bogey’ team for Chelsea, especially at the home of Aston Villa, Villa Park. This has been a regular Premiership fixture since the league was reformed but the more recent encounters between the two have favoured Villa more, with Chelsea winning just one of the previous nine encounters, although, Chelsea will be buoyed by the fact that their last visit to Lancashire did pay dividends in a narrow 1-0 victory. However, the previous four had finished in draws, with tight games often on the agenda when these two clash.

 

 

Over 2.5 Goals: 3 Under 2.5 Goals: 7

 

Just three of the last ten meetings has produced a game with three or more goals, but, more importantly, none of those came at Villa Park, with the previous five encounters on Villa Turf all finishing in low scoring affairs, mainly draws. Just two of the last nine meetings at Aston Villa has produced goal filled encounters so the bet here looks to be with Unders.

 

 

 

Key Player – Brad Friedel

 

The American remains a beast of a goalkeeper at 38 years-of-age, and this game could centre around him as Chelsea will more than likely spend most of their afternoon peppering the Villa goalmouth. The former USA number 1 has maintained a formidable defensive record at home this term, conceding three goals in four matches at Villa Park, although this does look a lot better when you read that Friedel has kept two clean sheets in those four games against Fulham and Portsmouth. His immense shot-stopping ability and his instinctive knack to simply get himself in the right place at the right time has made him one of the best goalkeepers the league has ever seen.

 

 

 

Match Verdict:- Chelsea to WIN – 10/11 totesport

 

Chelsea look very good odds for the victory away at Villa Park, what has been a tough venue for Chelsea in recent seasons. They put their recent woes away to Wigan firmly behind them and they look set to go another lengthy winning run, with a victory over Villa being their second of many. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are bang in form and looking a lethal duo up front for the Blues and we expect Chelsea to ask all the questions at Villa Park, ones we aren’t too sure if Villa will find the answers for.

 

 

 

Match Odds:

 

 

Aston Villa – 18/5 WilliamHill

 

Chelsea – 10/11 totesport

 

Draw – 13/5 Bet365

 

 

 

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Didier Drogba(Chelsea) to Score anytime – 7/4 Expekt.com