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Preview: Chelsea vs. Aston Villa

Preview: Chelsea vs. Villa
© PA Photos
Alex McLeish will again be able to call upon the services of Darren Bent for the New Year's Eve trip to Chelsea while Emile Heskey misses out.

Darren Bent will be available for Aston Villa's New Year's Eve trip to Chelsea after missing the last three fixtures with a thigh injury.

Alex McLeish will however be without Emile Heskey for the final encounter of 2011 at Stamford Bridge after the Englishman picked up an Achilles injury.

For the home side, who have drawn their last three games, Andre Villas-Boas will have the same decision of who will spearhead the Blues attack, with Didier Drogba likely to regain his starting place after Fernando Torres's ineffectual display against Fulham last time out.

At the back, Jose Bosingwa is expected to shake off a muscle problem and line up on the right of David Luiz and John Terry.

Neutrals will be hoping for a repeat of last season's six-goal meeting between these two sides at Stamford Bridge, which was incidentally their first game of the calendar year, and ended 3-3 thanks to three goals in the last six minutes.

Current Form:

Chelsea: WWWDDD
Villa: DLWLLD

Possible lineups:

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Romeu, Lampard, Meireles, Mata; Sturridge, Drogba

Villa: Guzan; Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock; Albrighton, Petrov, Cuellar, N'Zogbia; Agbonlahor, Bent

Sports Mole says: 2-0

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Written by
Pascal Lemesre

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2Chelsea1594235181731
3Arsenal1585229151429
4Manchester CityMan City158342721627
5Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest157441918125
6Aston Villa157442323025
7Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton156632522324
8Bournemouth157352320324
9Brentford157263128323
10Fulham156542220223
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1562731191220
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle155551921-220
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd155461918119
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham155372028-818
15Everton143561421-714
16Leicester CityLeicester153572130-914
17Crystal Palace152761420-613
18Ipswich TownIpswich151681427-139
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1523102338-159
20Southampton1512121131-205


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