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Aston Villa vs. Chelsea: Lineups & Game Thread

Michael Regan

Welcome to Villa Park, where Jose Mourinho's never won.  Dun dun DUN!  Is this a bad omen or a streak waiting to be broken?  Let's hope it's the latter.

"If I haven't won there it's because it's difficult to win there. I think they are a good team. When I saw at the beginning of the season the way they played at the Emirates and Stamford Bridge I thought they would be a team to be between fifth and seventh or eighth."

"Their game has a clear identity. If you press high there is space for counter-attack, but if you keep the block low they put balls in the air for Benteke to win and the other guys go for the second ball. They press close to your box so they have qualities to make it difficult. Everyone knows what they want to do and everybody knows the way they want to do it. It is one thing to know this; another thing is to cope with it. When they are at the top of their game everybody finds it difficult to play against them, so for me they are a very difficult opponent."

-Jose Mourinho; source: Chelsea FC

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Aston Villa starting lineup (4-3-3):
Brad Guzan | Joe Bennett, Nathan Baker, Ron Vlaar, Leandro Bacuna | Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Karim El Ahmadi | Gabby Agbonlahor, Christian Benteke, Andi Weimann

Substitutes from: Jed Steer, Yacouba Sylla, Grant Holt, Ciaran Clark, Marc Albrighton, Matthew Lowton, Callum Robinson

Chelsea starting lineup (4-2-3-1):
Petr Cech | Cesar Azpilicueta, John Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic | Nemanja Matic, Ramires | Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian | Fernando Torres

Substitutes from: Mark Schwarzer, Tomas Kalas, Mikel, Frank Lampard, Andre Schurrle, Mohamed Salah, Demba Ba

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No real surprises in either team.  It's business time.

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