Chelsea earned an important draw at Aston Villa last season but seven starters from that night will all be missing on Saturday
Chelsea travel to Villa Park on Saturday to take on Aston Villa, looking to bounce back from their 3-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion last week.
Enzo Maresca‘s men face a difficult task, with Aston Villa coming close to beating Liverpool on Wednesday after drawing 2-2 with the Premier League leaders.
It was a game that saw Mohamed Salah replicate one Eden Hazard feat from the 2018/19 season.
Going into the match, Maresca will be wishing he had a winger like the Belgian. The Chelsea manager is set to be without a couple of his wide men, meaning that this Chelsea team is going to look very different to the one that drew 2-2 away at Villa in the business end of last season.
Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke and more won’t be options for Enzo Maresca on Saturday
Noni Madueke got Chelsea back into the game the last time these two sides met at Villa Park in the Premier League.
The winger scored in the 62nd minute after the Blues had found themselves 2-0 down following an early own goal from Marc Cucurella and a 42nd-minute strike by Morgan Rogers.
Conor Gallagher eventually levelled things up for the visitors, but they will be without the midfielder this weekend after his move to Atletico Madrid last summer, while Madueke will also miss the game because of injury.
In that 2-2 draw, Nicolas Jackson and Benoit Badiashile also started, but they are currently out injured as well. Like Gallagher, Thiago Silva is no longer at the club either, while Djordje Petrovic is at Strasbourg on loan.
Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended, too, meaning seven players who started for Chelsea at Villa Park last season will not play on Saturday.
Last week, Maresca gave an update on Badiashile, claiming that the central defender is in the process of coming back. But there has been no news since then.
Moises Caicedo stepped up against Aston Villa earlier this season
Chelsea’s last match against Villa was a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge back in December.
With Reece James injured, Maresca decided to go with Moises Caicedo at right-back and the Ecuadorian did not disappoint.
Caicedo was not dribbled past once and finished the game having completed three key passes, showing what a great job he did both defensively and offensively.
| Moises Caicedo vs Aston Villa | Total |
| Minutes | 90 |
| Clearances | 1 |
| Interceptions | 2 |
| Tackles | 2 |
| Dribbled past | 0 |
| Ground duels (won) | 5 (3) |
| Aerial duels (won) | 1 (1) |
| Touches | 76 |
| Key passes | 3 |
He will have to be at his best again if Chelsea are to get anything from Saturday’s game. Maresca is missing a couple of his key players following those injuries to Jackson and Madueke. The Italian will be relying on Caicedo even more now.
from Latest Chelsea News and Updates - The Chelsea Chronicle https://ift.tt/T2NmY8R
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