Aston Villa and Chelsea will lock horns in the Premier League matchday 19 at Villa Park on Sunday. The kick-off is at 19:30 CEST.

Preview

Even though Aston Villa have suffered defeats at the hands of Manchester City (2-1) and Liverpool (1-0), the Villans have won the other four PL matches under Steven Gerrard, including the most recent 2-0 victory over Norwich City on December 14 before their clash with Burnley last weekend was postponed due to a Covid-19 crisis in the English top flight. Hence, Villa have moved into the 10th place in the league standings with 22 points taken from 17 matches.

Chelsea, meanwhile, registered a goalless stalemate at Wolverhampton in their most recent Premier League encounter last Sunday to slip down to third in the table, already six points adrift of leaders Manchester City. That was before Thomas Tuchel's coronavirus-hit squad managed a 2-0 win against Brentford in the EFL Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.

Team news

Marvelous Nakamba, Leon Bailey and Bertrand Traore will all miss the forthcoming encounter for the hosts through respective injury woes while the visitors will be without the services of Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz on Sunday as the trio are yet to recover from Covid-19. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Hakim Ziyech, meanwhile, remain doubtful with injuries.

Prediction

Despite Villa's recent defeats to Man City and Liverpool, the Villans have proven themselves a tough nut to crack under Gerrard. Therefore, we can see the Birmingham giants making life even tougher for the Blues who have only won twice in their last five league games. What's more, Chelsea suffered a 2-1 loss in their previous head-to-head meeting with the Villans at Villa Park, so let's say that you should expect a rather entertaining encounter between the two sides on Boxing Day.

Tip

Total over 2 at 2.072 with 1XBET.