Aston Villa-Chelsea betting preview
Chelsea could go 10 points clear of the second-placed Liverpool in the English Premier League with a win over Aston Villa on Sunday. It would put considerable pressure on the other title chasers. The Villa side plays a similar game to that of Chelsea: tough tackling, dour defending and quick counter-attacking. But they do not have the man-to-man quality that is overflowing in the Blues camp.
Aston Villa are 11th in the league, with 31 points. While they cannot be ambitious, they would be relieved that they do not have to fight a relegation battle like in the last season. Only a series of dismal performances in the remaining season would push them into the relegation zone. The team has recovered from a series of poor results with a 4-0 drubbing of Norwich at home last week.
Chelsea are doing fabulously well. They have the best defence in the EPL, and their defence is only getting better as the season progresses. The team maintained clean sheets in six of the ten matches in 2014.
The H2H record against Aston Villa would also give them confidence. They have won eight of the last 12 games against Villa, which included an 8-0 thrashing in the last season. The Blues have pleasant memories about Villa Park as well, having won in four of the last five visits to the stadium.
Villa’s Christian Benteke has a good record against Chelsea. Libor Kozák’s injury is a concern. But Benteke formed a great combination with Gabriel Agbonlahor last week.
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and Branislav Ivanović have done well against Villa. Fernando Torres is out with injury. In any case, their strikers, save for a few inspiring displays from Samuel Eto'o, have not done too much scoring. But midfielders Eden Hazard, Andre Schürrle and Oscar virtually score at will.
Aston Villa-Chelsea Prediction
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