European qualification is squarely on the line as Aston Villa host Chelsea on Saturday in Premier League action, with just a few games remaining in the 2023/24 season.
Aston Villa are in a bitter fight for the final Champions League qualifying spot in the table, deadlocked with Tottenham on maximum possible points. Villa sit six points clear in fourth and hold a five-goal differential advantage, but Spurs maintain two games in hand, meaning Villa cannot afford any slips the rest of the way.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are also on thin ice, as they sit ninth with six games left on the schedule. They are just three points behind seventh-placed Newcastle, but were pummeled by Arsenal 5-0 last time out to dampen their hopes of mounting a late-season move up the table.
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No European football for a second consecutive season would leave Chelsea searching for answers as they move forward under owner Todd Boehly.
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Both these clubs have proven majorly flawed in recent weeks, especially as injury troubles mount towards the end of the season. Yet Chelsea are the more mentally frail side, and the status of Cole Palmer remains in question after missing the Arsenal defeat due to illness.
Incredibly, the home side hasn't won in this fixture since Chelsea's 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge in 2011, including Chelsea's 3-1 FA Cup victory over Villa at this venue back in February. In that game, though, the two sides were far more even than the scoreline would suggest, both producing 15 shots and over 1.0 xG. Villa should get their revenge here.
Aston Villa have not crossed this threshold in all three
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