Date: Wednesday 4th March 2026
Venue: Villa Park
Kick-off: 19:30 GMT
Strap yourselves in, as tonight’s Premier League escapade sees us take on Aston Villa, who are still nursing their wounds after being sideswiped by Wolves. If you listen closely, you can probably hear Villa’s fans dusting off the optimism and whispering, “Surely even we can’t lose to this lot?”
Our own recent outing? Well, it was Arsenal, and honestly, the result was about as surprising as rain in Manchester. Arsenal weren’t pulling up any trees, yet we mastered the art of vanishing in plain sight – if disappearing became an Olympic sport, we’d be gold medallists. Perhaps our new defensive scheme was scribbled on the back of a napkin on the team.
Rosenior, always pushing the boundaries, seemed to decide that defending corners is a bit passé – maybe he’s hoping for a tactical innovation award. But even his best efforts were upstaged by the match officials, apparently moonlighting from a panto, missing everything from WWE try-outs in our penalty area to a handball that even Stevie Wonder could’ve spotted. VAR, meanwhile, must have been enjoying a long lunch, and Darren England was so generous towards Arsenal you’d think he was on commission – expect a thank you card from North London any day now. And just when we thought the chaos was over, Pedro Neto – who’d already been booked for the heinous crime of existing near the referee – flung himself at Martinelli, gifting Chelsea their ninth red card of the season. With this rate of sendings-off, we’re bound to receive a free coffee on the “Red Card Loyalty Scheme” soon.
So, onwards to Villa – a team with just one win in their last five and surely rubbing their hands at the thought of facing our generous lot, especially since we’re still fielding Sammy the Seal in goal. With Liverpool also tripping over Wolves, Villa are stubbornly clinging onto fourth place, level with United as things kick off. Meanwhile, we’re dangling in sixth, holding on tighter than a toddler with a biscuit. Lose tonight though and we might as well start browsing package holidays for next season – European football will be nothing but a distant memory.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery, says “Our objective is to be in Europe, and we are in. Even not in good form, we are in. And, of course, we are every day trying to recover our good form and our confidence, and [tomorrow], Chelsea is our opponent, and, of course, it’s a tough match. In Villa Park, we are feeling, overall, really comfortable, playing, showing our form, consistency, except the last matches as we played. And, of course, we want to recover our good form at home. We were winning a lot of matches in a row, and we were feeling so, so strong. And the last matches, even playing not bad – because the last match against Leeds United, we played well, (it) was not enough, because we drew – we must try to do something better.
It’s the day 28 – still a lot of matches to play. Ten matches, 30 points. And it depends how we are recovering our confidence, how we are recovering our consistency, and how we are as well getting duels against teams they are with us, like [tomorrow], Chelsea. But still matches to play, still points to play. Of course, tomorrow, if we are winning, we are losing, we are drawing, it’s being very, very different, for us and for them. But identifying how good they are now, playing and performing confidently, I think they are very good. And how we are now, we need to recover it – good form, recover confidence – tomorrow is a really good test. It’s a fantastic test, and playing at home with our supporters, I think, is better. And how we are having our experiences here in four years, it’s good to try to get balance.
When we are winning more, (when) we are losing less, everybody, but we must change it, and changing it, we will recover it, confidence. And of course, how comfortable we must feel at home, but it’s starting with our demands. Be very, very demanding, in the gameplan, in each one, try to get their best. Of course, the attitude will be really fantastic. I expect it from our players, and then, try to play, identifying their weakness, identifying our power and to exploit it, collectively, individually, and our structure is very important. Tactically, how we can get it as strong as possible.”
Liam Rosenior, meanwhile, says “The beautiful thing about having a young team is that sometimes you need to go through experiences to improve. This is a massive learning experience for my group – and I do not want it to be an experience where we fail in what we want to achieve. But these setbacks we’re having, we have to learn from them because if we do, we have proven, even in my short time here, that we can be an elite team for a long time. I think reacting to setbacks – and sometimes that is giving the ball away or the referee making a decision you disagree with – you have to react positively and think of the next thing. That is what we have to go after in our discipline to improve. If you look at our stats when we have 11 men on the pitch, before and after my time here, our percentage chance of winning goes through the roof. That needs to be motivation in itself to make sure we stay disciplined in key moments.
In terms of preparing for Aston Villa, the reason they score great goals is because they have great attacking players. We show individual clips to our players. Our players know the strengths and weaknesses of each individual we’re up against. It’s going to be a very difficult game. They’re very clinical in terms of the xG that they create, in terms of the values of the goals that they score. They’re a good team. It’s going to be tough because they’re going to have a reaction from their last result. We have to make sure we’re prepared for a very difficult game.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Aston Villa, Boubacar Kamara (knee) and Andres Garcia are injured and neither Youri Tielemans nor Harvey Elliott are expected to return for tonight’s game.
For Chelsea, Levi Colwill (ACL), Jamie Gittens (thigh), Dario Essugo (unspecified), and Filip Jorgensen all remain out through injury. Estevao Willian (thigh) has also joined the injury list. Marc Cucurella (hamstring) faces a late fitness test. Wesley Fofana has served his suspension, so has swapped his place on the naughty step with Pedro Neto. Mykhaylo Mudryk meanwhile, continues to serve what feels like the longest suspension known to man.
TEAMS
ASTON VILLA (Possible line-up): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Luiz, Onana; Buendia, Rogers, Sancho; Abraham
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Sanchez; James, Chalobah, Fofana, Hato; Caicedo, Santos; Palmer, Fernandez, Garnacho; Pedro
LAST SEASON
Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea (22nd February 2025)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
ASTON VILLA: WLDWDL
CHELSEA: WWWDDL
OTHER STUFF
Chelsea are without a win in their last 2 trips to Villa Park
Aston Villa won the reverse fixture 2-1 at Stamford Bridge
Aston Villa have only won one of their last four Premier League home games
Chelsea have lost eight of their last 10 midweek away games in the Premier League
Aston Villa have won just two of their last eight Premier League games
Chelsea have failed to pick up all three points in any of their previous three games.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea