Chelsea resume their hectic schedule with a Boxing Day fixture at Aston Villa, the Blues now sitting six points adrift of Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Meanwhile, Villa return to action sitting in 10th position, a consequence of recording 12 points from six matches since Steven Gerrard's arrival.
Match preview
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Having been forced to play three games in less than a week with ongoing coronavirus issues, there can be some sympathy with the selection problems which have hindered Thomas Tuchel.
Nevertheless, the Blues have come through a period against Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford without suffering defeat, two draws in the Premier League being followed by a 2-0 triumph in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
Now sitting well adrift of Man City, Tuchel cannot be satisfied with his team's recent form, but a change in government coronavirus rules should lead to more players returning this weekend.
The biggest plus from the last two games has been consecutive clean sheets, those shutouts being achieved after previously conceding 11 times in six contests.
Tuchel will hope that more goals from open play now follow, but Chelsea suffered a 2-1 defeat in this corresponding fixture last season as they just about held onto fourth spot in the Premier League on the final day.
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Villa have experienced their own coronavirus outbreak, one which Gerrard has described as ongoing ahead of welcoming the European champions.
The cancellation of last weekend's game versus Burnley has given Villa's first-team squad a chance to recharge their batteries, but Gerrard will argue that some momentum could have been lost from the enforced break.
Beating Norwich City by a 2-0 scoreline represented Villa's fourth win in six under Gerrard, their two defeats coming at the hands of Man City and Liverpool.
Although Villa have lost nine of their 17 matches this season, they are within touching distance of the top eight, and Gerrard will feel that there is a window of opportunity to capitalise on the inconsistency of other clubs.
While Ollie Watkins has not hit the heights of last season, the England international has still contributed four goals from his last eight appearances.
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Team News
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Despite the prospect of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Romelu Lukaku returning to the squad after coronavirus, neither player is expected to be risked from the start.
With Chelsea now having more of their midfielders available, Mateo Kovacic could partner Jorginho in the centre, with N'Golo Kante playing in a more advanced role alongside Mason Mount.
While Trevoh Chalobah should feature in the back three, Hakim Ziyech is a doubt with a calf injury, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kai Havertz are likely to miss out due to coronavirus.
Gerrard has not disclosed which Villa players face missing this game for the same reasons, leaving it difficult to predict a starting lineup with any degree of certainty.
The only confirmed absentees are Marvelous Nakamba, Leon Bailey and Bertrand Traore, all through injury.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey; Buendia, Watkins, Young
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Chalobah, Silva, Rudgier; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Kante, Mount; Pulisic
We say: Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea
With so many uncertainties over squad selection, this is a difficult match to call. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore Villa's improvement under Gerrard and Chelsea's potential tiredness, leading to us predicting a low-scoring draw.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Chelsea win with a probability of 68.99%. A draw had a probability of 19.1% and a win for Aston Villa had a probability of 11.92%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (12.29%) and 1-2 (9.53%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.07%), while for an Aston Villa win it was 1-0 (4.32%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Chelsea would win this match.
