Aston Villa vs Chelsea Predictions

• Chelsea have won five of their last seven away games in all competitions
• Aston Villa have one win from their last six matches
• The last five head-to-heads have seen both teams score

Villans crashing back down to earth

Aston Villa’s season has taken a real downwards turn lately and Chelsea may be the latest beneficiaries when the pair meet on Wednesday.

Unai Emery’s side were beaten 2-0 by rivals Wolves on Friday to make it one win from their last six games as they lost further ground in the race for a top-four spot in the Premier League.

Chelsea are some of their primary challengers for a Champions League spot and are fancied to take advantage of their recent struggles with an away victory over these opponents.

Villa have now scored just four goals in their last six games, with their expected goals overperformance from earlier in the season seemingly coming back to haunt them as they regress to the mean.

Despite being fourth in the table, Villa’s expected goal difference of -4.1 puts them 12th in the Premier League standings and their on-field performances as of late have reflected that.

The January signing of Tammy Abraham has failed to bring life to this attacking unit and whatever slim title ambitions they had have surely dissipated with Villa now 13 points off league leaders Arsenal.

Blues’ attacking might could be the difference

Villa are the second-lowest scorers in the top half, only Everton have netted fewer than their 38 goals in 28 matches.

They host a Chelsea side who gave the Gunners a scare on Sunday, largely holding their own before the sending off of Pedro Neto saw Mikel Arteta’s men comfortably see out a 2-1 win.

The Blues have now received seven red cards this term, putting them two short of matching the Premier League record with ten games to go. Both of their goals conceded against Arsenal were from set-pieces, a trend which has also dogged Chelsea throughout the season.

Liam Rosenior’s side are six points behind Villa but could start to bridge that gap by bouncing back against their hosts. Arsenal remain the only team to have beaten Chelsea under Rosenior, although they have done it three times, and his men may have too much attacking quality for this Villa team.

Pedro can play big role

The hosts’ season seems to be petering out and their lack of goal threat lately could be their undoing once more.

Expect a lively Chelsea attack to be the difference between these two teams and the visitors to come out on top.

Correct score backers should note the fact that the last five head-to-heads have all gone over 2.5 goals and side with a narrow 2-1 win for the Blues.

Joao Pedro is Chelsea’s top league scorer with 11 goals and he has two goals and three assists in his career against Villa, take him to find the net again.