Where they are in the table

1st – Chelsea – 23 games – 52 points – Goal Difference (+32)

16th – Aston Villa – 23 games – 22 points – Goal Difference (-19)

Chelsea

The most interesting bit of stat coming into this game is the fact that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has never won game at Villa Park in the Premier League in his five attempts (3 draws and 2 losses).

For a team that was on course earlier in the season to be the new Invincibles, Chelsea has been in pretty pedestrian form off-late.

They drew at Anfield in the first leg of the League Cup Semi-finals after being the second best team throughout the match.

Then they lost against Bradford City at Stamford Bridge 4-2 in the 4th round the FA Cup.

They did win against Liverpool in the second leg of League Semi-final against Liverpool but were the second best team overall.

In the last week Chelsea were held to 1-1 draw by fellow title contenders Manchester City. Chelsea does have a 5 point lead over City in the title race but can’t allow there form to fade away.

Fabregas will still be missing for Chelsea as he has not yet fully recovered from the injury he picked up vs Liverpool in the league cup semi-final. This may well mean that Chelsea’s latest signing Juan Cuadrado will make his debut versus Villa.

Diego Costa is still out though as he spends time-out for serving ban for his violent conduct in the League Cup.

Aston Villa

Recently Aston Villa legend Paul McGrath said that the current Villa team were a disgrace. The Villains have failed to score in their last six premier league games and their usually tight defence also fell away last week as they got thrashed at the hands of Arsenal 5-0.

Their performance in the 5-0 defeat versus Arsenal rivalled Sunderland for the worst performance of the season by a Premier league team.

Villa’s home form hasn’t been great as well winning just one and drawing 4 in their last 9 games. Much of Villa treble form this season is due to their inability to score they have scored just 11 so far and that is the least number of goals scored by a team in the Premier Division.

Villains will be boosted by the return of their Captain Ron Vlaar which will strengthen their defence but scoring is problem for Villa and did try to sign Rickie Lambert during the January transfer window to answer by but Lambert turned down the move.

This game will be the 100th game in charge for Villa boss Paul Lambert and he will hoping to turn the season around with a result here.

Prediction: – Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea (Chelsea are missing Diego Costa and also Fabregas and Aston Villa will be strengthened by return of Ron Vlaar. If any team is to win this game it will be Chelsea but I can see Villains Sneaking a point here).