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

There are two more 1.30pm kick-offs today, with Manchester United taking on Everton at Old Trafford and Tottenham facing Fulham,

Of course, 4pm sees the big clash at the top of the table, with Liverpool hosting Manchester City.

Aston Villa defender Matty Cash says the 0-0 Champions League draw against Juventus was a “building block” in their bid to regain top form.

Villa’s early-season promise has hit the skids in recent weeks and the Villa Park stalemate was a seventh game without a win, comfortably the longest streak in Unai Emery’s reign.

But their display against the Italian giants, which could have been a win had Morgan Rogers’ injury-time goal not been controversially ruled out, was much better.

Unai Emery has made two changes to the side that drew to Juventus in midweek. In defence, Ezri Konsa is fit to start in place of Diego Carlos, while on the wing, Jaden Philogene comes in for Leon Bailey.

Enzo Maresca has made three changes to the side that beat Leicester last time out, with Benoit Badiashile dropping out of defence in favour of Romeo Lavia, who moves into midfield with Caicedo dropping back into defence.

On the wings, Madueke and Felix are replaced by Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto.

It looks like Moises Caicedo will be playing at right-back today.

Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella; Neto, Caicedo, Lavia, Enzo, Sancho, Palmer, Jackson.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin, Badiashile, Veiga, Gusto, Madueke, Felix, Mudryk, Nkunku.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Philogene, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins.

Subs: Olsen, Carlos, Mings, Maatsen, Bogarde, Barkley, Buendia, Bailey, Duran.

Here’s a quick reminder of the other team news, with the line-ups expected to be announced at 12.15pm.

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. With Gusto back, the hosts will likely go with a fairly familiar back five.

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.

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.

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.

The Italian continued to rotate for Chelsea’s latest win in the Europa Conference League, making 10 changes, and Jorgensen put in perhaps his best display of the season.

The 22-year-old Danish goalkeeper, who joined from Villarreal in the summer, has been tipped to replace Robert Sanchez as Chelsea’s No 1 after a number of unconvincing performances this season.

Chelsea are set to be without captain Reece James for several weeks and the defender may not return to action until the new year.

James missed the start of the season with a hamstring injury, before returning to make three appearances before the November international break. But the 24-year-old is back on the treatment table after picking up a fresh hamstring injury in training.

CHE – Sanchez; Gusto, Colwill, Fofana, Cucurella; Caicedo, Lavia; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson.

AST – Martinez; Cash, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Bailey, Rogers, McGinn, Watkins.

Prediction: It’ll be a close match at the Bridge, but with Villa’s struggles of late and Chelsea’s recent resurgence, it’s hard to see anything but a home win. Chelsea 2-1 Aston Villa.

Chelsea vs Aston Villa kicks off at 1.30pm GMT on Sunday 1 December.

The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event, with coverage starting at 1pm. Subscribers can stream via the Sky Go app.

If you’re not a Sky customer, you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

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