Joe Cole is relishing coming up against former club Chelsea on Saturday - as he eyes a top result for his new team.The Villa midfielder spent seven years in West London until 2010, winning eight major domestic trophies in the process and over 50 England caps.No stranger to the big occasion, Cole returns to Stamford Bridge in opposition colours this weekend and will be reunited with former manager Jose Mourinho.However, the Londoner remains unfazed and is determined to help Villa bounce back from their home defeat against Arsenal.He said: "Once you're on the pitch, you're focused on your job."That's the great thing about being involved in football - there's no time to think about anything but what you're doing out there."You get completely involved in the game. It's a time when you're free from everything - you're free when you play football."I spent the majority of my career at Chelsea. The people there were great and the fans were great with me too."But you just have to focus on trying to get the right result."It was the same with Frank Lampard. He was there much longer than me and he came on against them for Man City and scored."You do your job and hopefully, if I'm involved in the game this weekend, I can make an impact like that and we can go from there and get a good result."Since arriving this summer, Cole has worked under Paul Lambert and his assistant Roy Keane - both influential midfielders - on a daily basis.The 32-year-old has nothing but admiration for the duo and believes their knowledge and wisdom is beneficial to the whole squad.He added: "Roy Keane was a very tough player to play against. I played against him at West Ham as a young man and then at Chelsea when I was a bit older."He was a top player, one of the top midfielders of his generation and his knowledge is great for the younger lads, young midfielders and myself looking to earn a place in the midfield."I've got the gaffer who has played at the top level to learn from as well."For all of us midfielders, we can definitely all learn from them and their experiences."
The best price for a Chelsea win on Oddschecker is 1/4 and quite a few bookmakers are offering 1/5. Amazing.
Jose Moaninho:"Tomorrow I play with the team that is the best one. Everyone is working hard," says Mourinho. "Aston Villa are second, they have 10 points, it is a game between the leaders and the team second. That shows the difficulty of the game and that's the only thing I worry about.err Jose....the Villa are 3rd..shitting himself already UTVThe Doc
Paul Lambert is keen for Villa to adopt a pragmatic approach against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.Lambert believes his side were too cavalier in the 3-0 loss to Arsenal in B6.Now he wants the claret and blues to be sensible and prudent when they face the league leaders.He said: "We were too open against Arsenal."We have had a chat with the lads this week. We have given them our thoughts and they agreed that they were too eager."Sometimes that happens when you're playing well - you think you can go out there and take anybody on."Now you pick yourself up and start again."You've got to try and get a foothold in the game and not be out of it before you've started. If we can do that, then great."I'm not going to sit here and say we're going to go there and play free-flowing attacking football. You do that and I think you'll get beaten pretty heavily."But we'll try and do what we did in the four games before the Arsenal match and we'll try and get a result."What you try and do is get a foothold in the game, like we did at Anfield against Liverpool."Up there, you know they will come at you but you get a foothold in the game, get a goal and that gives you something to hold on to."We played good counter-attacking football. We have the players that can do that."We will get chances hopefully on Saturday and when we do, we have to take them."Lambert was upbeat after watching his squad train following the elimination of a sickness bug that hampered the Gunners preparations.He was also effervescent because of where his team are in the table - and the progress they have made so far this term.Despite the weekend defeat, Lambert says Villa are in a strong position heading into tough encounters with Chelsea and Man City.He continued: "If somebody had said 'I'll give you a point from Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea' I'd have taken that."We took three points from Liverpool so it breaks the ice."The result at Anfield gives you a free reign really, that's what people have got to remember."We'll go there with nothing to lose. Nobody expects anything from us going there but if we get chances hopefully we can take them."Lambert is a firm admirer of Chelsea but he believes his side can cause an upset this weekend.Asked whether the Stamford Bridge encounter is viewed as the toughest of the season, he added: "It's certainly up there, that's for sure."We are up against probably one of the best teams in Europe."That game - Chelsea at Man City - was fantastic. They were two really strong sides."I think they'll be round about it in the Champions League again, I think they'll go far in it. And I think they'll go far in winning this Barclays Premier League."They're a good side with good players and they are strong and powerful. You can pick three or four teams with the players they have."Last year we gave a good account of ourselves and nearly got something from it."We're in a run of games at the minute which is really tough for us because you're playing the big teams that expect to be there or thereabouts in the Barclays Premier League and even in Europe."It's tough but we've made a great start and we won't curtail what we're doing. We'll go to try and win."
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Topic: Chelsea v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread (Read 22799 times)
