Maresca and Emery hail 'fantastic' European displays ahead of Stamford Bridge clash

Enzo Maresca and Unai Emery both lauded "fantastic" European displays from Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively, ahead of their clash on Sunday.

Villa visit Stamford Bridge on the back of a 0-0 draw with Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Chelsea, meanwhile, defeated Heidenheim 2-0 on Thursday.

And both bosses were delighted with what they saw from their teams in their midweek fixtures.

Maresca, who named a team of fringe players, suggested Thursday's clash was the ideal chance for his second-string options to build up some minutes.

"They did fantastic. I think all of them," he said.

"Jadon Sancho had a very good game. Axel [Disasi] and Benoit [Badiashile]. Cesare Casadei did well. They are ready and it's important.

"Filip Jorgensen had a very good game. We have nine or 10 games in December so they are going to get more chances. They need to be ready."

4 - Christopher Nkunku is the first Chelsea player to score in each of his first four major European appearances for the club, and first to score in four in a row overall since Olivier Giroud in 2018-19. Notable. pic.twitter.com/8wl3SFyjH1

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 28, 2024

Emery had to go much stronger with his selection against Juve, with Villa somewhat harshly denied a late winner when Morgan Rogers saw a goal disallowed.

"It was fantastic," Emery said, even though his team are now winless in seven games.

"We needed one match like this, playing seriously with a clean sheet, defending strong, being compact and then trying to impose and dominate some areas of the match.

"We didn't create a lot of chances but we didn't concede a lot of chances. We were closer to scoring and in the second half we were progressively getting better."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Chelsea - Nicolas Jackson

Five of Jackson's seven Premier League goals this season have put Chelsea 1-0 ahead in the match – coming into this weekend's games, only Chris Wood (six) has scored the opening goal in more different games this term.

Aston Villa - Ollie Watkins

Watkins has scored in his last two Premier League away games against Chelsea, with both ending up being the winning goal in the match.

No visiting player has ever scored three match-winning goals at Stamford Bridge in the competition.

MATCH PREDICTION: CHELSEA WIN

Chelsea are winless in their last three Premier League meetings with Villa (D1 L2), last having a longer such run against them between February 2006 and December 2007 (five).

Indeed, Villa have won their last two Premier League away games against Chelsea, as many as in their previous 21 visits to Stamford Bridge (D4 L15). They last won three consecutive away league games against the Blues between 1930 and 1933.

However, Opta's supercomputer still makes the Blues the favourites.

Villa are winless in their last four Premier League games (D2 L2). They last went five without a win between May and August 2022, while they last did so in the same season in March/April 2022 (both runs under Steven Gerrard).

Chelsea have conceded at least once in all six of their Premier League home games this season – they last had a longer wait for a home clean sheet from the start of a league campaign in 1978-79 (nine games).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Chelsea - 52%

Aston Villa - 25.2%

Draw - 22.8%