By Aston Villa FC

The Aston Villa line-up has been announced ahead of this evening's Boxing Day clash against Chelsea.

Two changes have been made to the starting XI that beat Norwich City last time out, with John McGinn and Ashley Young dropping out of the squad.

In their places, Danny Ings and Morgan Sanson have been selected by head coach Steven Gerrard, who is absent from the dugout after testing positive for COVID. 

Jed Steer, Bertrand Traore, Anwar El Ghazi and Keinan Davis return to the substitutes bench.

See below for the full team...



Aston Villa: Martinez, Mings, Konsa, Targett, Cash, Sanson, Jacob Ramsey, Douglas Luiz, Buendía, Watkins, Ings

Subs: Iroegbunam, Hause, Steer, Carney Chukwuemeka, Traoré, Trézéguet, Tuanzebe, Davis, El Ghazi

Chelsea: Mendy, Rüdiger, Thiago Silva, Chalobah, James, Kanté, Alonso, Jorginho, Mount, Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi

Subs: Arrizabalaga, Barkley, Azpilicueta, Lukaku, Ñíguez, Kovacic, Sarr, Ziyech, Christensen