Daniel Lewis

Tue 19 September 2023 18:58, UK

Aston Villa face a quick turnaround in matches this week as they follow up their opening Europa Conference League group match with a trip to Chelsea at the weekend.

The Villans find themselves four points better off than the Blues ahead of the match at Stamford Bridge on Sunday [24 September] after making a positive start to their Premier League campaign.

The bigger story from a wider perspective, of course, is that Chelsea have made a slow start under new boss Mauricio Pochettino, having won just one of their first five matches.

However, the West London side may be boosted in time for the visit of Villa as a couple of key players could be back in contention for Pochettino to choose from.

According to the Daily Mail print edition [19 September, page 68], Chelsea hope to have Moises Caicedo and Noni Madueke back from knee and muscle issues respectively.

Caicedo – the most expensive footballer in British history, remember – and Madueke both sat out the 0-0 draw at Bournemouth at the weekend for precautionary reasons.

Should they be available to face Villa, it will make Chelsea a stronger side than the one that once again struggled as they failed to break down the Cherries.

Madueke, who has one goal in three appearances in all competitions this season, will likely be up against Lucas Digne if he is deemed fit enough to play a part for Chelsea.

The 21-year-old has averaged 12 progressive carries per 90 minutes this season [FBref] – defined as carrying the ball at least 10 yards towards the opponent’s goal – which is the most of any Chelsea player, although that is skewed slightly by the fact he has only played twice so far.

That is still a battle you would expect Digne to come out on top in, though, as he leads the way among Villa players this season for interceptions with two per game on average – double that of anyone else [WhoScored].

Caicedo will form a wall in front of the Chelsea defence, meanwhile, and his passing ability will also help the Blues create attacks from deep.

Indeed, Caicedo ranks in the top five per cent among all midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past 12 months for pass-completion percentage (89.3%), as per FBref.

Moussa Diaby in particular will have to be on top form if he is to get the better of Caicedo in that area of the field. Having scored two goals and assisted two more in five league games this season, he will fancy his chances of kicking on at Stamford Bridge.

Whether it is Ollie Watkins who leads the line or possibly Jhon Duran – that will likely become clearer after the midweek Europa League tie with Legia Warsaw – Villa can be more than confident they have the personnel to overcome Chelsea.

Villa may not have spent close to the billion pounds Chelsea have over the past year or so, but their squad is arguably the better of the two at this point.

Now they have to go and prove that at Stamford Bridge.

In other Aston Villa news, Duran boasted a “100%” statistic in the win over Crystal Palace to put himself in contention for a more prominent role.