Chelsea went ahead and spent crazy amounts of money during the summer but sadly all those new players have not been able to give the team a boost.
After five matches, the Blues find themselves 14th on the Premier League table with just five points as they have managed to secure just one win. Next up, they welcome Aston Villa at the Bridge and Pochettino has to ensure that his players turn things around this weekend.
The game on Sunday will be really crucial for Chelsea because they do not have European football to look forward to this season so they have to make sure they finish within the top four of the EPL table. The way things are going for them right now, it will be very hard for them to climb above to competition and in all honestly, there’s every chance they might stumble against Unai Emery’s men.
Villa are seventh on the table, four points ahead of Chelsea and the last time these two sides met, Aston Villa won that game 2-0. On paper, the home side will be the favourites but this one is going to be a much more evenly fought contest and there’s a big possibility it might end in a stalemate.
Chelsea’s team news and injuries:
The injury woes do not seem to end for Mauricio Pochettino because Moises Caicedo picked up a knee injury which kept him out of the Bournemouth game and the midfielder is a doubt for this weekend.
His manager had claimed that the injury was not serious but he did not train with the rest of the squad on Thursday morning which suggests that he will have to go through a late fitness test. Ugochukwu played alongside Gallagher in central midfield in the Cherries game and if Caicedo is not ready then the pair will hold onto their place in the side.
Wesley Fofana, Chalobah, Reece James and Nkunku are all long-term injury absentees but players like Armando Broja and Cucurella are closer to full fitness.
Romeo Lavia twisted his ankle on the training ground and the summer signing is not expected to return before the end of October.
Badiashile was scheduled to return in the next few days but as per the latest reports, he suffered a minor setback in his recovery last week. This has forced him to return to individual training which means he will not be available for the Aston Villa game on Sunday.
Enzo Fernandez played in the No 10 last weekend and with so many players out injured, he will continue to play in that role because the Chelsea boss has very little room to make changes to his starting line up.
Mudryk also got a start last weekend and a major plus for the manager is that he had a really positive 63 minutes. Ben Chilwell came off the bench against the Cherries but the England international should come back into the first XI, replacing 20-year-old Levi Colwill.
Chelsea predicted line up vs Aston Villa:
Predicted Starting line up(4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Thiago Silva, Disasi, Chilwell/Colwill; Gallagher, Caicedo/Ugochukwu; Fernandez, Sterling, Mudryk; Jackson.
