Prediction Premier League - Aston Villa vs Chelsea

Premier League - Aston Villa vs Chelsea
Match Time: 28-04-2024 03:00 Sunday (GMT+8)
Football Livescore | Match Prediction & Tips
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Aston Villa

Since losing 4-1 at Manchester City at the beginning of April, Aston Villa have collected seven points from their last three Premier League games to put themselves in the driving seat to secure their first top-four finish since 1995-96.

The Lions were forced to play out a 3-3 draw with Brentford a few weeks ago, but they have since beaten both Arsenal and Bournemouth, with goals from Morgan Rogers, Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey securing a comeback victory - their 20th of the season - over the Cherries at Villa Park last weekend.

Unai Emery, who extended his contract as Villa manager until 2027 on Tuesday, has four games remaining to secure Champions League football for the West Midlands outfit, who sit fourth in the table and can move nine points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with a win over Chelsea, although Spurs will then have three games in hand, starting with the North London derby on Sunday.

Aston Villa are sure to have one eye on their Europa Conference League semi-final with Olympiacos next week, but they must first shift their focus to Saturday's Premier League clash with Chelsea and will endeavour to complete their first league double over the Blues since 1989-90, after winning 1-0 in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge in September last year.

Only the current top three in the Premier League have accumulated more home points at this stage of the season than Aston Villa (38), who have also won four of their last five matches at Villa Park in all competitions, but Emery's men were beaten the last time they played host to Chelsea, losing 3-1 in an FA Cup fourth-round replay in February.

Chelsea

After putting together a promising eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions, including a thumping 6-0 home win over Everton, Chelsea have since been brought back down to earth, with a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals followed just three days later by an emphatic five-goal drubbing by Arsenal in the Premier League.

Leandro Trossard netted an early opener for the Gunners, before Kai Havertz haunted his former club with two second-half goals, and Ben White was also at the double to condemn Chelsea, who were wasteful once again in front of goal, to their 11th league defeat of the season.

Amid reports claiming Chelsea's hierarchy are yet to decide whether Mauricio Pochettino will remain in charge of the club next season, the Argentine coach is under pressure to deliver European football for the West Londoners, who sit ninth in the top-flight standings and three points behind the top seven, while they are six points adrift of Manchester United in sixth spot.

Chelsea crucially have at least one game in hand on each of the three teams above them, though, and they will relish Saturday's trip to Villa Park where they have won seven of their last nine Premier League away games with Villa, scoring 20 goals in the process.

Having said that, the Blues have only won two of their last eight top-flight fixtures outside of London, losing five and drawing two, and have lost their last two league meetings with Villa; Chelsea have not lost more consecutive games against the Lions since a run of four between 1978 and 1984.

Prediction: Aston Villa 2-2 Chelsea