Soccer Football – Premier League – Aston Villa v Newcastle United – Villa Park, Birmingham, England – January 30, 2024 Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has a goal later disallowed. Fourth-placed Aston Villa will look to solidify their place in the UEFA Champions League and reverse their recent decline when they face sixth-placed Chelsea in Birmingham on Wednesday.
Villa (15-7-6, 51 points) entered midweek in a better position despite having won just once in their last five league games and scoring in their last six across all competitions.
They hit a new low last weekend when they lost 2-0 to last-place Wolverhampton Wanderers, who won their second title this season.
And this coincided with the extended absence of captain John McGinn, who suffered a knee injury in the 1-0 league loss to Everton on January 18.
“We need another leader. Of course John McGinn is very important, but he won’t be available (Wednesday).” Villa manager Unai Emery said: “He is getting better, but we have enough players to be consistent, perform well and feel comfortable with our players.”
“Of course, even if we don’t achieve it, I will continue to believe in them.”
England internationals Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rodgers lead the Midlands team with eight league goals each, but neither have scored in their last three league games.
Chelsea (12-7-9, 45 points) enters the game after a reality check of its own after being held to a 1-1 draw at Burnley, which looks likely to be relegated on February 21, and losing 2-1 at home to league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
The Blues finished both games with 10 men after defender Wesley Fofana and forward Pedro Neto each received second yellow cards, with Neto serving a one-match ban on Wednesday.
This is the club’s first taste of adversity since 41-year-old Liam Rosenior took charge and won his first four league games and eight of his 11 overall games.
But despite the familiarity of some Chelsea faces, Rosenior emphasized that this is still an inexperienced group, with the youngest starting age in the Premier League at 11 years old and the average age at 23.4, according to Transfermarkt.
“The beautiful thing about having a young team is that sometimes you have to go through experience to improve,” Rosenior explained. “This is a huge learning experience for our group, and we don’t want it to be an experience where we fail at what we’re trying to achieve. But these setbacks we’re having are why we need to learn from this, because even in our short time here, we’ve proven that we can be an elite team for a long time.”
–Field level media
