Chelsea and Aston Villa will meet at Villa Park on Wednesday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. UK time. The game will be shown live on TNT Sports in the UK and USA Network in the US.
Liam Rosenior won his first four Premier League games in charge, but Chelseahave lost important points in the race for the top four in the last few weeks. The Blues haven’t won in their last three games. They drew at home with Leeds United and Burnley, then lost to Arsenal, who are at the top of the table, on Sunday after conceding two set-piece goals.
Rosenior will be glad to see the back of Mikel Arteta’s team for now, since he has lost three times to them while in charge of Chelsea. The Blues still have to play Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain in their round-of-16 European tie before the season ends.
Chelsea are now six points behind fourth place and three points behind Liverpool in fifth. If they slip up again, their hopes of making it to the Champions League could be over. Aston Villa, on the other hand, are in just as bad shape, having won only one of their last five league games.
That run ended with a shocking 2-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were at the bottom of the table. The Villans are now fourth with 51 points from 28 games. Both teams are out of form and having trouble scoring, so a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Villa Park seems like the most likely outcome.
Chelsea Team News: Missing Key Players For The Villa Park Match
Chelsea are happy to have Wesley Fofana back from his suspension, but Pedro Neto is out for one game after getting a red card against Arsenal. Cole Palmer and Reece James are both confirmed to be available. Estevao Willian and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens are still out with thigh injuries, but they should be back in two weeks.
Dario Essugo is getting close to coming back from an injury he got in January, but Marc Cucurella looks like he will miss out. Rosenior wants to be careful with his recovery before the PSG game in mid-March. Levi Colwill, who is making good progress in his long-term recovery, is likely to miss the rest of the season.