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Preview: Chelsea vs. Aston Villa

Preview: Chelsea vs. Villa
© PA Photos
Alex McLeish will again be able to call upon the services of Darren Bent for the New Year's Eve trip to Chelsea while Emile Heskey misses out.

Darren Bent will be available for Aston Villa's New Year's Eve trip to Chelsea after missing the last three fixtures with a thigh injury.

Alex McLeish will however be without Emile Heskey for the final encounter of 2011 at Stamford Bridge after the Englishman picked up an Achilles injury.

For the home side, who have drawn their last three games, Andre Villas-Boas will have the same decision of who will spearhead the Blues attack, with Didier Drogba likely to regain his starting place after Fernando Torres's ineffectual display against Fulham last time out.

At the back, Jose Bosingwa is expected to shake off a muscle problem and line up on the right of David Luiz and John Terry.

Neutrals will be hoping for a repeat of last season's six-goal meeting between these two sides at Stamford Bridge, which was incidentally their first game of the calendar year, and ended 3-3 thanks to three goals in the last six minutes.

Current Form:

Chelsea: WWWDDD
Villa: DLWLLD

Possible lineups:

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Romeu, Lampard, Meireles, Mata; Sturridge, Drogba

Villa: Guzan; Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; Albrighton, Petrov, Cuellar, N'Zogbia; Agbonlahor, Bent

Sports Mole says: 2-0

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