At A Glance
Aston Villa are looking to extend their streak of Boxing Day wins to four in a row when Chelsea visit Villa Park in the Premier League.
Crystal Palace (3-0), Norwich City (1-0) and Swansea City (1-0) have all fallen victim to Villa on Boxing Day in recent years, and they’ll be looking to claim another festive three points when they meet the Blues for the third time this season.
Chelsea triumphed 3-0 in the reverse fixture before a penalty shoot-out win in the Carabao Cup, with both games taking place at Stamford Bridge back in September.
Villa head coach Steven Gerrard has enjoyed a run of four wins in six games since taking charge, beating Norwich 2-0 last time out.
After leading the way up until early December, Thomas Tuchel’s team have slipped off the top of the table after a run of two wins in their last five league games.
The Blues have lost one and drawn two during that spell, which includes a 0-0 draw against Wolves in their last outing.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, last winning back-to-back home league games against Chelsea back in April 2004.
Chelsea won the reverse fixture 3-0 earlier this season, and are looking to complete the Premier League double over Aston Villa for the seventh time – only Manchester United (15) and Manchester City (8) have done so against the Villans more often in the competition.
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This is the sixth time Aston Villa and Chelsea have met in a league match on Boxing Day (fourth in the Premier League), with Chelsea remaining unbeaten in the five games so far (W3 D2). The last such match came in the 2007-08 season, a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge.
In Premier League history, there have been 38 red cards in games played on Boxing Day. 8% of these came in one match – Aston Villa’s 4-4 draw away to Chelsea in 2007-08, with Zat Knight being sent off for Villa, and Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole seeing red for the Blues.
Aston Villa have won their last three Boxing Day league games, their longest winning run on this day since a run of five between 1908 and 1913.
Chelsea have lost their last two Boxing Day league games, going down 2-0 against Southampton in 2019-20 and 3-1 at Arsenal last term. Only once have the Blues ever lost three such games in a row, doing so between 1912 and 1914.
Chelsea’s last two Premier League games have finished level, with the Blues last drawing three consecutive league games back in February 2012. Meanwhile, they’ve never gone three league games without a win so far under Thomas Tuchel.
Chelsea have only failed to score in two of their 18 Premier League away games under Thomas Tuchel – a 0-0 draw with Leeds in March, and another 0-0 draw with Wolves in their last match.
Aston Villa have only failed to score in one of their last 14 Premier League home games and have found the net in each of their last nine at Villa Park since a 0-0 draw with Everton in May.
None of Aston Villa’s last 14 Premier League games have ended level (W6 L8), with four of those victories coming in their six games under Steven Gerrard. It’s the Villans’ longest run without a draw in league football since a run of 16 between January and May 1998.
The Last Meeting
A valiant Villa exited the Carabao Cup with a Third Round defeat at Stamford Bridge in September.
Timo Werner headed the hosts in front before Cameron Archer struck back with a header of his own, forcing the game to penalties.
Ashley Young and Marvelous Nakamba were the unfortunate players to miss from the spot as Chelsea progressed 4-3 in the shoot-out.
Team News
Villa boss Steven Gerrard will be unable to attend our Premier League fixtures against Chelsea and Leeds United as he will be isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.
Both sides are dealing with the ever-changing landscape surrounding COVID, and it’s likely to impact team selection right up until game day.
Villa’s confirmed injury absentees are Leon Bailey and Marvelous Nakamba, while Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell will miss the game.
The Boss
“You always prepare for the best Chelsea team. They’ve got a fixture tonight (December 22) and I’m sure that team will look a lot different to the weekend because I’ve listened to Thomas’ (Tuchel) last few interviews and I think he’s going to protect and rest a few, which is understandable. We will always prepare for the best team, in terms of the opponent. If for any reason it’s not a strong Chelsea team, we’ll deal with that. What I would say is they’ve got a world class squad littered with world class players, so I’m sure if they’ve got enough players to carry the fixture out, we’re going to find a really strong Chelsea team.”
Steven Gerrard
