Aston Villa face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, looking for their first Premier League victory in six weeks.
UnaiEmery’s side are on a seven-match winless run after losing four times in a row before the November international break following a draw against AFC Bournemouth.
Villa stopped the rot against Crystal Palace last weekend but failed to beat the struggling Eagles before playing out a goalless draw with Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.
However, Villa are only three points off third-placed Chelsea ahead of the 1.30 pm clash on Sunday. The Villains will take confidence from their recent record in West London. They won their last two Premier League games at Stamford Bridge – as many as Villa managed in their previous 21 visits.
Chelsea are also surprisingly brittle at Stamford Bridge, which should encourage the Villains to go for the jugular.
After losing to Manchester City on the opening weekend of the campaign, Chelsea have drawn to Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Arsenal at home. They did beat Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle United.
They will be without captain Reece James, but Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto could return to the squad after missing the trip to Leicester City last time out.
Aston Villa will assess Amadou Onana ahead of the game, but Jacob Ramsey remains sidelined.
Onana has missed the last two matches against Crystal Palace and Juventus, having sustained an injury while on international duty with Belgium. He now faces a late fitness test.
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The influential Belgian midfielder will be a massive miss if he is not fit to play. Villa will need him to curtail the dangerous Cole Palmer and compete with Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in the midfield battle. Ramsey was forced off at Liverpool earlier this month and will miss out.
Fit-again Boubacar Kamara returned to the starting XI for the Champions League clash, while Ezri Konsa was also named in the matchday squad.
At the media conference yesterday, manager Unai Emery said (via AVFC.co.uk): “The last match we were without Onana and Ramsey. Ramsey is going to be out as well (on Sunday).
“But Onana, it depends on how he is progressing and tomorrow if he can train or not, we will see.”
Aston Villa Predicted XI vs Chelsea
(4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne; Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans; Leon Bailey, John McGinn, Morgan Rogers; Ollie Watkins.