Aston Villa – Chelsea

In Birmingham, the hosts will prove an advantage over their capital rivals

Aston Villa and Chelsea decided to stretch the pleasure of the fans of English clubs and their confrontation "unfolded" into two fights. In the London meeting of the teams was not recorded a single goal. The advantage of the hosts on some important indicators and the advantage of the guests on other indicators speak about the approximate equality of that duel. Both opponents to the round of 1/16 finals have passed only one stage of the main national cup. "Blues" at the last stage at home hosted Preston, an hour of game time did not know from which side to approach him, but then made in his gates four unanswered goals. "Villans" visited the "Riverside" at the semi-finalist of the English League Cup. Middlesbrough tried to hold off the onslaught of formidable opponents in defence, but in the 87th minute through the efforts of Matty Cash conceded the only goal, which became decisive. The upcoming match in London will be the fourth between the teams in the last ten months. The previous three were played at Stamford Bridge and brought dry victories to Aston Villa (2:0 and 1:0), as well as the aforementioned goalless draw. Bookmakers have identified the home team as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 2.18 on their victory. At the end of December last year, Aston Villa could break into the Premier League leaders, but unexpectedly lost points in a home meeting with Sheffield United (1:1). The misfire against the Blades was immediately followed by a painful defeat to Manchester United. In January, Emery's ambitious squad got past Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and shared points with Everton in Liverpool. At the height of the Villans' slump was a home defeat to Newcastle, after which Emery's players picked themselves up and defeated the local side 5-0 in Sheffield. The trip to Birmingham is a serious concern for Chelsea fans. The fact is that since the end of November, their team has travelled to the championship and national cup matches seven times, which led to six defeats. The only opponent who managed to beat away from home during this period was modest Luton Town. At the same time, "hat-trick", despite the final defeat, managed to score two goals in the gate favourite and tickle his nerves in the end of the meeting. Chelsea have lost two league games in the last ten days, conceding a total of eight goals from Liverpool and Wolverhampton. The visitors are unlikely to get into the 1/8 finals.