ASTON VILLA STARTING XI VS CHELSEA PREDICTED AS UNAI EMERY HANDED BIG BOOST

Aston Villa will welcome Douglas Luiz back from suspension this weekend after he missed the last two Premier League games against Arsenal and Bournemouth.

Unai Emery's side took maximum points from those matches in what was a perfect week for the club as they also progressed through to the Europa Conference League semi-finals by overcoming Lille on penalties. Luiz started both games against the French club and will likely return to the starting XI to face Chelsea on Saturday.

John McGinn and Youri Tielemans were both excellent in Villa's matches against Arsenal and Bournemouth. But McGinn could be deployed in a more advanced role with Luiz coming back into the side alongside Tielemans in the double pivot.

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Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers should keep their places in the side on the wings, meaning Moussa Diaby could drop to the bench in place of the returning Luiz, with McGinn supporting Ollie Watkins in attack.

Emi Martinez could play in front of an unchanged defence of Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres and Lucas Digne.

Villa will move nine points clear of Tottenham in the top four if they beat Chelsea on Saturday. Spurs then host Arsenal for the north London derby on Sunday at 2:00pm.

Chelsea head to Villa Park on the back of a 5-0 defeat to Arsenal and are winless in their last four away games in all competitions.

Villa predicted XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Pau, Digne, Luiz, Tielemans, Bailey, Rogers, McGinn, Watkins.

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2024-04-24T08:04:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd