Strongest Chelsea Line Up To Face Aston Villa – Oscar To Continue His Bench Time?

Table toppers Chelsea travel to Villa Park to take on an Aston Villa side,  who have blown hot and cold this campaign, meaning the Blues can extend their lead at the top if they grab yet another three points from the contest. Jose Mourinho’s side come into this game on the back of a crushing 4-0 win in the London Derby against Tottenham and will be looking to maintain their imperious run of form in their quest for the Premier League title. Paul Lambert’s Claret and Blue are currently eleventh in the table and will probably fancy their chances coming on the back of a dominating 4-1 over Norwich in the league.

So what would be Chelsea’s strongest lineup to face the Villains? We here at Soccersouls have the correct combination for Mourinho.

Goalkeeper:

Petr Cech kept another clean sheet against Spurs as the Czech international certainly has cast his eyes on the golden glove award. However the Chelsea number will be in for a stern test coming up against the likes of Benteke, Weimann and Agbonlahor up front for Villa. Make no mistake if Cech can shut out the Villains, Chelsea will grab yet another three points in their kitty.

Defenders:

Serbian Branislav Ivanovic will start as the right full back with the ever impressive Spaniard César Azpilicueta manning the left back slot. Both the wing backs will try to put pressure on the Villa wingers with their marauding runs up front and overlap their wide men to provide crosses in the box. The ever reliable Gary Cahill and captain John Terry will start as the centre back pairing for the away side who will look to offer very little space and time for Villa’s hardworking forwards.

Midfield:

No doubt Nemanja Matic will partner the always hardworking Brazilian Ramires in the middle of the park as the double pivot of the 4-2-3-1 formation opted by Mourinho. Although Ramires has looked way off colors recently, Jose prefers him than starring Matic alone. The central midfield duo will look to break the opposition attacks and build their own from the back. Eden Hazard should definitely start out wide on the left with either of Andre Schurrle or Willian manning the other flank.

Mourinho has not been favouring Brazilian Oscar recently and if that trend continues, expect the midfielder to start from the bench and Lampard to start alongside Ramires and Matic, with Ramires pushing more up front and Lampard in the anchor role behind him.

Strikeforce:

Samuel Eto’o silenced his critics and celebrated his goal in the best possible manner against Tottenham and the Cameroonian should definitely lead the line in Saturday’s late night kickoff. Fernando Torres will have to be contended with a place on the bench but the Spaniard might come on at the hour mark if the Blues fail to break the deadlock.

On paper, this is almost a similar line-up to the one which started against Tottenham with the exception of Torres. It is almost impossible to get into Mourinho’s mind and pick a likely XI that he would start. However, I beleive if at all the above line-up will be changed, it will be involving Oscar and Willian. With Oscar replacing Lampard and Willian replacing Schurrle.