MX23RW : Thursday, December 19 02:49:08| >> :120:18041:18041:

Preview: Aston Villa vs. Chelsea

Aston Villa host Chelsea at Villa Park on Saturday in a bid to push themselves up the table.

Aston Villa will hope to clinch their second victory in seven games as they come up against Chelsea on home turf.

Alex McLeish will be without Charles N'Zogbia as the winger continues to deal with a knee injury, which could lead the way for Marc Albrighton to provide service for loan striker Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Meanwhile, Roberto Di Matteo is likely to stick to his rotation policy and bring in Gary Cahill to partner John Terry in defence with Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa placed in the full-back spots.

Didier Drogba is also likely to re-enter the starting XI to replace Fernando Torres after being benched for the Blues' 1-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.

Current form:

Aston Villa: LLDDWL
Chelsea: WWWLDW

Possible lineups:

Aston Villa: Given; Lichaj, Collins Cuellar, Warnock; Herd, Bannan, Ireland, Albrighton; Agbonlahor, Weimann

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Terry, Cahill, Cole; Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Mata; Sturridge, Drogba

Sports Mole says: 1-2

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Written by
Danielle Joynson

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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Bournemouth167452421325
7Aston Villa167452425-125
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham165472129-819
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255


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