The Blues have nine games to go, and with the three above teams nipping at their heels, they can hardly afford to get complacent.
Aston Villa certainly won't take it easy on them. The Villans gave Chelsea all they could handle when the teams met in August, as the Blues escaped with a 2-1 win, and Villa certainly come into this game well-rested, having last played on March 2.
Can they pull off the home upset? Or will the Blues continue their winning ways?
When: Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET
Saturday at 5:30 p.m. GMT
Where: Villa Park, Birmingham, England
Watch: NBC Sports Network; NBC Sports Live Extra; Sky Sports 1; Sky Go
Odds: Chelsea (52.9 percent), Aston Villa (22.4 percent) and draw (24.7 percent), according to Bloomberg Sports
I’m just saying that if I’m Paul Lambert, I’m telling my squad that Chelsea’s attack can be stifled. Decent motivation for a team that’s only won one of their last eight league matches against the Blues.
On current form, the Villains have upheld their season-long reputation as being the most inconsistent and under-performing club in the Premier League. On January 29th they came from 2-0 down to beat rivals West Brom 4-3 in the West Midlands derby. Huge win.
So how’d they follow that up?
By going winless over the next four matches: 2-1 loss at Everton, 0-2 loss to West Ham, a 0-0 draw with Cardiff and a 1-0 loss to Newcastle.
Two points. For Aston Villa that’s just not good enough. If I were a Villa fan — and, praise be to the God’s of Football, I’m not — that’s exactly how I’d feel. Like my team simply wasn’t competing at the level they should be. Underperforming.
But then what do Villa go and do next?
Smoke Norwich City 4-1. Again, they come from behind. And again, Christian Benteke was scoring goals. Great to see him starting to look more like the striker who tore the Premier League a new one last year when he netted 19 times in 34 appearances.
Point being – Villa is inconsistent as all hell. Although things do seem to be improving…
So can they beat Chelsea?
What They’re Saying:
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho: “We know that to win matches you need to score more goals than the opponent, but one of the ways you have to score more is if you don’t concede.”
Aston Villa winger Andi Weimann: “They are top of the league now so obviously everyone is looking to catch them and we hope we will be able to take points off them. I think attacking-wise if we are on our game we can hurt anyone and we’ll look to do that against Chelsea.”
Prediction:
On a good day, I think Villa can nip a point here. Benteke is back, they have no new injuries (N’Zogbia, Kozak and Okore all term absentees) and they seem to be coming into form.
Problem is, if Chelsea wants a shot at the title the Blues need to win every single one of their final nine matches. So even with Fernando Torres (groin), Ashley Cole (knee) and possibly David Luiz (groin, late fitness test) sidelines with injury, Villa don’t stand a prayer in this one.
Chelsea takes all three points. Mourinho says something awesome. Done deal.
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