Aston Villa vs Chelsea pre-match thread

[PaulWinch again]

Ah Dougie is the new player to get criticised. He’s not in the best of form, but he is absolutely fantastic and at his best is a definite starter for me.

[Somniloquism]

I wouldn't state he is being criticised, just most people wondering if he should come straight back in being as the team did so well without him. And with added caveat that it needs to be McGinn AND Tielemans/Luiz as midfield and not Tielemans and Luiz with McGinn elsewhere.

[andyh]

Ah Dougie is the new player to get criticised. He’s not in the best of form, but he is absolutely fantastic and at his best is a definite starter for me.

‘At his best’ he’s a definite starter for everyone.

[Demitri_C]

I heard cole palmers picked up a injury. If true thats great news as i think we will beat them if they have no palmer

[darren woolley]

This will be a tough game but I reckon we will sneak it 2-1.

[brontebilly]

When we signed Tielemans I read it as competition for Luiz and I'm still seeing it that way . When Tielemans is on it he's the better player for me .

This is a classic example of recency bias.

Good to see Tielemans has picked it up in recent weeks as he was carried by the likes of Luiz for the rest of the season. Luiz next to Tielemans leaves us far too open and his form has suffered a bit in recent weeks. But games at home to Man United, Man City, away at Chelsea...he ran the show.

Watkins will be our POTY this season but Luiz is probably second. Then the likes of Martinez and Bailey after.

[usav]

I heard cole palmers picked up a injury. If true thats great news as i think we will beat them if they have no palmer

Not an injury, he's sick.

[VillaTim]

When we signed Tielemans I read it as competition for Luiz and I'm still seeing it that way . When Tielemans is on it he's the better player for me .

This is a classic example of recency bias.

Good to see Tielemans has picked it up in recent weeks as he was carried by the likes of Luiz for the rest of the season. Luiz next to Tielemans leaves us far too open and his form has suffered a bit in recent weeks. But games at home to Man United, Man City, away at Chelsea...he ran the show.

Watkins will be our POTY this season but Luiz is probably second. Then the likes of Martinez and Bailey after.

It's not recency bias , I'm also referencing Tielemans time at Leicester and with Belgium . Overall I have Tielemans as just above Luiz .

[john e]

I heard cole palmers picked up a injury. If true thats great news as i think we will beat them if they have no palmer

Just a poorly tummy apparently so could well be back for our match

[Brazilian Villain]

Obviously it would be nice if we win and Arsenal beat Sours, and we stroll towards clinching 4th. However it's Villa, so I expect a bump in the road at some stage, and this might be it. I'll go for a 2-2 draw as I did pre-Bournemouth, and hope I'm wrong again.

[VillaTim]

Momentum and confidence are with us , plus players back. Play well and we win , we are better than them all over the pitch . Palmer being the only player who'd get in our team .

[Pete3206]

Hopefully, another cracker under the lights.

3-2 win

[PaulWinch again]

Chelsea score plenty of goals, we need to try and limit that. Even against Citeh they should have had plenty.

[john2710]

Since February Luiz has been asked to play a deeper role, which is not his best position. It's noticeable his impact on games has dropped since Kamara got injured. He still walks into the team though, probably at the expense of Diaby. Other than that, it's the same team as Sunday.

We need to show more intent than we did in the cup game.

[Nev]

We owe them for that debacle in the Cup but that was entirely our fault for just not turning up.

I think Sat will be different, the KO time is fucking crackers but there we go. They are slowly getting better so it will be tough and I can see a stalemate coming. May be luck will intervene and we get over the line but I can see a few goals either way. It will classed as "entertaining" while every Villa fan will read it as "disappointing".

2-2