At A Glance
Aston Villa host Chelsea as the curtain comes down on their 2020/21 Premier League season at Villa Park on Sunday.
Fans will be inside the stadium for the first time since February last year, with 10,000 home supporters there to cheer on Villa as they look to end the campaign on a high.
After a comeback victory against Tottenham Hotspur in midweek, Dean Smith’s team are looking to end a four-game winless run on home soil.
Chelsea are looking to secure a top four finish and need all three points to be guaranteed a Champions League spot.
The Blues took a big step towards that goal when they avenged their FA Cup final defeat with a 2-1 success against Leicester City last time out.
Like Villa, Chelsea have picked up the majority of their points away from home this season, collecting 34 on the road in 18 games.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa have lost 10 of their last 12 Premier League meetings with Chelsea (W1 D1), though they did get a draw in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge this season.
Chelsea have won their last three Premier League away games against Aston Villa, last winning four in a row at Villa Park between 1995 and 1999.
Aston Villa haven’t won their final league game in any of the last nine campaigns, since beating Liverpool 1-0 in 2010-11. However, the Villans are unbeaten when facing Chelsea in their last game (W3 D1), most recently winning 3-1 at Stamford Bridge on the closing day of the 2001-02 season.
Chelsea have lost their final league game in just one of the last nine campaigns (W6 D2), going down 0-3 at Newcastle in 2017-18.
Aston Villa have won 15 Premier League matches this season, six more than they won last season (9). This is the biggest rise in victories in consecutive Premier League seasons for Villa since they won 11 in 1994-95 and then 18 in 1995-96.
Chelsea are unbeaten in each of their eight away league games under Thomas Tuchel (W6 D2), conceding just four goals in total and never more than once in a match.
Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has scored in each of his last seven Premier League appearances against Aston Villa, netting nine goals in total. Only Robin van Persie has ever scored in eight consecutive games against an opponent in the competition (vs Stoke).
Jorginho is Chelsea’s top league goalscorer this season with seven goals – all of them from the penalty spot. The last top-flight season in which the Blues had such a low scoring top goalscorer was in 1974-75 (Ian Hutchinson, 7).
Ollie Watkins has scored 14 Premier League goals for Aston Villa this season – the last English player to score more in a single top-flight campaign for the Villans was David Platt in 1990-91 (19).
All seven of Jorginho’s Premier League goals for Chelsea this season have been penalties – no player has scored more in a single campaign with 100% of them coming from the penalty spot (level with James Milner in 2016-17).
The Last Meeting
Anwar El Ghazi helped Aston Villa secure a point in their final match of 2020 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The winger continued his hot streak with a goal to pull his side level after Olivier Giroud had given the Blues the lead.
John McGinn also struck the crossbar with a thunderous drive as the visitors came close to taking all three points.
Team News
Matty Cash has been ruled out for the rest season and will miss the Chelsea game, with Morgan Sanson also absent.
Trezeguet remains the only long-term injury.
N’Golo Kante limped off injured last time out against Leicester and is doubtful along with Kai Havertz.
Chelsea are hopeful Andreas Christensen will be available for selection.
The Boss
“He’s (Thomas Tuchel) had a great start. They qualified for the FA Cup final, Champions League final and now they’re trying to qualify for the Champions League via the top four. He’s come in and done exactly what he’s been asked to do so far. Now it’s our job to put an end to their away record. We’ll be going hell for leather to try and do that.”
Dean Smith
