Aston Villa vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League team news and line-ups ahead of crucial top-four clash

Villa were drawn against Club Brugge in the Champions League last 16 and Unai Emery is hoping for revenge after they were beaten 1-0 in Belgium in the league phase.

“Happy we are in the last 16 and happy with the draw, but every team that are in the last 16, they deserve to be there,” Emery said.

“Of course, we played against Brugge and we knew their capacity to compete like they are doing usually. They beat Atalanta as well.

“Losing there 1-0, of course, is good information for us, how we have to compete, to respect, to prepare, to try to avoid the mistakes we made.

“But really happy, because we are going to enjoy this moment with our supporters, and we are going to compete when it’s arriving, but now we have to focus (on) Chelsea.”

Ollie Watkins believes the arrival of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio to Aston Villa will pay big dividends.

Watkins scored his 12th Premier League goal of the season in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool – a game in which Rashford and Asensio made their first starts, after arriving in January.

The pair have added an extra dimension to Villa’s attack in recent matches and Watkins is looking forward to cashing in.

“It is nice playing with quality players and I am sure in the future games I will get more opportunities,” he said after the match.

“They haven’t had that long to show what they can do and they are still finding their feet.

“When they get a few games under their belt I am sure it will flow and connect together nicely.”

Enzo Maresca is enduring the toughest spell of his tenure with the team on a run of two wins from nine in the league, having been second and two points off the summit on December 22.

The performance in losing 3-0 to Brighton last time out was one of their poorest of the campaign and left them trailing fourth-placed Manchester City by a point.

“I’ve been clear since day one,” said Maresca. “I’m not here to survive, I’m here to win games. I’m here to bring this club to fight for titles.

“The problem is that when you win games you look humble, and when you don’t win you look like a lack of ambition.

“I’m ambitious. The club is ambitious. We have the same manager and same players and same sporting director as two months ago when we were second in the league.

“Nothing has changed, only unfortunately that we are dealing with many injuries. This has affected the level of the team.”

“We have 13 games to go and seven of them are at home,” said Maresca. “I think that winning the seven at home can be enough to finish top four.

“We’ve spent almost our season in the top four. Now we have just 13 games to go, so now the target for us is to finish top four, to try to finish in the best way.

“The difficult moment that we have now is probably because of the injury situation. We have five, six players that are significant players that are out.

“I watched again the first game against Villa (a 3-0 win in December) and we have five players probably that are out. The team has changed completely.”

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery enjoyed his side’s performance in the 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Wednesday but accepted that inconsistency could cost them in their pursuit if Champions League qualification.

“We competed very well, but we are in the process, we want to get stronger in the Premier League, even playing against some teams who are better than us,” Emery said.

“Liverpool is the best team in the Premier League and Champions League but we competed. We were close to get the victory, but I think the result was fair for both teams because they had chances, and we had chances at the end of the match.

“I have to accept it, this draw is adding one point in the table, not being enough, but we have to keep going, positively as well, improving with the players that joined us.”

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has set his players a clear target to win their seven remaining home games and ensure a return to the Champions League.

The 45-year-old has been wary of committing himself by speaking publicly about aims for the season, but with the team having spent most of the campaign in the top four, he has made his expectations clear.

Of the sides still to visit Stamford Bridge this season, six are currently in the bottom half of the Premier League, with leaders Liverpool the exception.

The team have only the division’s seventh-best home record this campaign having won six of their 12 games so far, losing twice.

Enzo Maresca had one new injury concern after the loss to Brighton, with Noni Madueke being forced off in that match. He will likely miss a few weeks with a hamstring issue.

While Malo Gusto was also subbed in that loss, Maresca later said he was okay, so he should be fit.

Nicolas Jackson remains the most recent long-term lay-off, with the striker out until at least the end of the March international break.

All of Marc Guiu, Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia are out for unspecified periods, while Wesley Fofana remains the main long-term absentee.

For Villa, Axel Disasi is unavailable to face his parent club, so Lamare Bogarde may provide cover, though Emery did say that Ezri Konsa could be fit enough to return to the squad.

Ross Barkley is also nearing a return, though this match could come a week too early, while Leon Bailey should be fit for this game.

Amadou Onana is still a couple of weeks away from a return, as is Boubacar Kamara, while Pau Torres is expected to start training again in a couple of weeks.

When is Aston Villa vs Chelsea?

The match kicks off at 5.30pm GMT on Saturday, 22 February at Villa Park.

How can I watch the match?

The match will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event, with coverage starting at 5pm.

If you’re not a Sky customer, you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass to watch without a subscription.

While Villa’s draw to Liverpool in midweek was a good result, it left Unai Emery’s side in ninth with 39 points, four below Chelsea and five off fourth-placed Manchester City.

Though Villa will fancy their chances of achieving European football, a win today is vital for any hopes of cracking the top five.

And they face a Chelsea side who have endured a poor run of form since December, falling from second to sixth, with last weekend’s disappointing 3-0 loss to Brighton meaning that the Blues face their own fight to secure a Champions League place that looked set in stone just a couple of months ago.