Chelsea vs Aston Villa: Blues aiming to reach major milestone with win

September 10, 2021 By Michelle Bonsu

Topics: TV Schedules, TV Listings, Chelsea, Aston Villa, English Premier League

Chelsea will resume action after the international hiatus with a clash against familiar foes Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, September 11.

Preview: Chelsea vs Aston Villa

Chelsea will be looking to become the first London-based club to reach 600 Premier League wins when they welcome Aston Villa on Saturday. So far, only one Premier League club has managed to achieve this: Manchester United, who also have won the most league titles in competition history. The Blues come into this match unbeaten in their last eight games across all competitions, and as they prepare to begin their defense of their Champions League title, Thomas Tuchel's men will want to ensure they avoid another negative result against their upcoming opponents.

It's been a pretty solid campaign so far for Chelsea, who opened proceedings with comfortable wins over Crystal Palace and Arsenal before battling to secure a one-all draw with Liverpool, despite having to play quite a bit of the match a man down following Reece James's red card.

Although Chelsea find themselves in fourth, while Aston Villa sit in 11th, it's the visitors who came out on top in the two sides' most recent meeting. That being said, the Villans haven't beaten the Blues in back to back matches since October 1993. And at Stamford Bridge, their record is even more dire - they've won just one of their last 16 clashes at Chelsea's home ground, with that result coming nearly 10 years ago in December 2011.

Dean Smith's side started the 2021/22 season on a rocky note as they lost 2-0 to newly promoted Watford, but have since picked up four points from their last three games thanks to a hard-fought 2-0 home win over Newcastle United and a 1-1 stalemate with Brentford just before the international pause. Consistency has been an issue for the Villans since last season, but they did manage to earn four points against Chelsea last season thanks to a home win and grabbing a point at Stamford Bridge.

Team news: Chelsea vs Aston Villa

Chelsea: Reece James will miss this one after being sent off during Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Liverpool. Meanwhile, Christian Pulisic and N'Golo Kante are in major doubt due to ankle injuries, and Romelu Lukaku may or may not feature; the big Belgian was struck with a thigh injury on international duty but did train recently, so he'll have to be evaluated prior to the match. In addition, veteran defender Thiago Silva looks set to sit this game out due to the Brazilian FA lashing out against the Premier League and blocking many of their internationals from featuring for their club sides.

Aston Villa: Argentina duo Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia will miss this game due to FIFA's COVID-19 quarantine regulations. However, both Leon Bailey and Bertrand Traore could return to the fold after an injury lay-off.

Match facts: Chelsea vs Aston Villa

Chelsea have won 11 of their last 16 home clashes against Aston Villa (D4 L1)
The Blues are also looking to win three home matches in a row against the same opponent since July 2020
Romelu Lukaku has scored six goals in his last five appearances against the Villans