Aston Villa will welcome Chelsea on Sunday at Villa Park in what will be their sixth Premier League meeting on Boxing Day.
In Premier League history, there have been 38 red cards in games played on Boxing Day. 8% of these came in one match – Aston Villa’s 4-4 draw away to Chelsea in 2007-08, with Zat Knight being sent off for Villa, and Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole seeing red for the Blues.
Aston Villa have won their last three Boxing Day league games and another such victory is valued at (5.25) with BetKing.Chelsea have lost their last two Boxing Day league games, going down 2-0 against Southampton in 2019-20 and 3-1 at Arsenal last term but a win this time around is tipped to happen at (1.75).
A draw at Villa Park is considered to occur at (3.75).
Villa will face the Europan champions without their manager, Steven Gerrard, who returned a positive Covid-19 test.
Keinan Davis, Marvelous Nakamba, Morgan Sanson, Anwar El Ghazi, Bertrand Traore and Leon Bailey are the players the Midlands side will miss as they are ruled out by various issues.Romelu Lukaku and Callum Hudson-Odoi - two of the eight Chelsea players to have been infected by the coronavirus - are back after they recorded negative tests.
Meanwhile, Andreas Christensen could be considered for a place in the matchday squad after recovering from a back injury.
Aston Villa won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, last winning back-to-back home league games against Chelsea back in April 2004.
Chelsea won the reverse fixture 3-0 earlier this season, and are looking to complete the Premier League double over Aston Villa for the seventh time. Only Manchester United (15) and Manchester City (eight) have done so against the Villains more often in the competition.Chelsea’s last two league games have finished level, with the Blues last drawing three consecutive league games back in February 2012. Meanwhile, they’ve never gone three league games without a win so far under Tuchel.Aston Villa have only failed to score in one of their last 14 Premier League home games, and have found the net in each of their last nine at Villa Park since a 0-0 draw with Everton in May.None of Aston Villa’s last 14 league games have ended level (W6 L8), with four of those victories coming in their six games under Gerrard. It’s the Villains’ longest run without a draw in league football since a run of 16 between January and May 1998.
Aston Villa have scored seven goals in their last five games, they have conceded five and kept a clean sheet just once. Chelsea have scored on nine occasions, conceded eight and kept two clean sheets.
Punters can take an offer of under 2.5 goals at (1.75) with BetKing.
Under 2.5 goals at (1.75) with BetKing.
Odds correct at the time of writing. Please gamble responsibly.