Chelsea host Aston Villa as two top-four contenders meet – live

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of today’s Premier League match between Chelsea and Aston Villa.

The Blues could go as high as second in the league today, with Villa sitting four points behind them in eighth as kick-off looms.

We’ll have all the latest build-up, team news and updates here.

The Blues have continued their resurgence under Enzo Maresca since the international break, with a win over Leicester City followed by a midweek win that takes them to the brink of the next round in the Conference League.

Meanwhile, Villa have continued a mixed run of form that has yielded just one win in their last eight matches, and Unai Emery is beginning to come under pressure in some corners of Villa Park with the club having fallen down to eighth.

Nevertheless, just four points separate these two sides at kick-off, so any result could be an important one come the end of the season.

Chelsea’s most recent injury news involves captain Reece James, who could miss out until as far as mid-January with a new injury problem.

Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto have returned to training, so they could be involved against Villa, while most first-team players sat out the win over Heidenheim.

Maresca’s main issue could be who he picks to partner Moises Caicedo in midfield, with Enzo Fernandez having performed well against Leicester, but with Romeo Lavia having previously been the big-game starter.

With Gusto back, the hosts will likely go with a fairly familiar back five, though there is a possibility that Filip Jorgensen could replace Robert Sanchez in goal after his midweek heroics.

The front four should also look pretty standard, as Noni Madueke and Neto return to the wings with Palmer in the middle and Nicolas Jackson upfront.

Villa’s side will likely look pretty similar to the one that drew to Juventus, with Boubacar Kamara starting in midfield in the absence of Amadou Onana – there is still no timeline on a return for the Belgian.

Ezri Konsa was in the squad in midweek, so he could return to the defence alongside Pau Torres at centre-back.

Jacob Ramsey is still sidelined, so the front three will likely be a combination of Leon Bailey, Morgan Rogers and John McGinn once more, with Ollie Watkins leading the attack.