Chelsea meet Aston Villa today as the Blues begin their preparations for the second half of the season.
With the Premier League restart honing into view, both teams are enjoying warm-weather training camps featuring the players not competing at the World Cup.
Unai Emery is getting to grips with his Villa squad after a successful opening week in the job and he will also face old club Villarreal before a Boxing Day meeting with Liverpool.
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For Chelsea, this counts as their only proper match ahead of their return against Bournemouth on December 27.
Here are all the details...
Date, kick-off time and venue
Aston Villa vs Chelsea is scheduled for a 2.10pm GMT kick-off on Sunday December 11, 2022.
The match will take place at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Where to watch Aston Villa vs Chelsea
TV channel: The match is expected to be broadcast by both the Aston Villa and Chelsea club media.
Live stream: Subscribers can pay to access the game via the clubs’ app or website.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea team news
Philippe Coutinho and Diego Carlos are the headline absentees for Emery’s side, due to injury.
Villa named a strong XI to face Brighton on Thursday and are only missing Matty Cash and Emi Martinez due to World Cup commitments.
Chelsea’s squad is also shorn of players who have played in Qatar, including Edouard Mendy, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and Thiago Silva.
Manager Potter confirmed ahead of the game that Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante and Wesley Fofana remain unavailable. Reece James may play some role as he nears a return from a knee injury.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea prediction
With more minutes under their belts from the games with Brighton and Cardiff in the days leading up to the game, Villa may have the edge in this one.
A 1-0 Villa win.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Chelsea have only lost two of their 16 competitive meetings in the past decade, winning 13.
Aston Villa wins: 58
Draws: 35
Chelsea wins: 68
