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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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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool18143145172845
2Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest1911442619737
3Arsenal18106235161936
4Chelsea18105338211735
5Manchester CityMan City199463226631
6Bournemouth198652923630
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle188553021929
8Fulham197842825329
9Aston Villa188462629-328
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton186842726126
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1973941281324
12Brentford187383232024
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham196582335-1223
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd186482124-322
15Crystal Palace194872027-720
16Everton183871524-917
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1944113142-1116
18Leicester CityLeicester1935112242-2014
19Ipswich TownIpswich1826101633-1712
20Southampton1913151239-276


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