If there’s one tricky game in the fixture, it’s this. Ever since the Mourinho days, Villa Park does not seem to leave us with good memories. We have managed to hammer the Villans at the Bridge but when we visit Villa Park, the form and the strength just disappears. We were beaten in the only tough away fixture so far. We then picked ourselves up to beat the two French teams – Marseille and Arsenal – just to show that the Man City defeat was just a blip.

If we manage to beat Villa today, the next ‘tough’ fixture is only in December against Tottenham. I’m discounting the Liverpool game as I think they don’t make a tough fixture even for Blackpool. In a way, I’m happy that the Liverpool sale saga is almost over. One reason is, it’s annoying to see football in the papers for non-footballing reasons. The other is, Liverpool are really a massive club. They deserve to be stable in terms of ownership and management. I wish they recover their pride on the pitch and become a real contender for the title soon. I want see Chelsea top a strong Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Tottenham. We don’t need any favours from anyone.

Back to the match – injuries! So many of them! Let me read out who we’d miss today: Drogba, Lampard, Sturridge, Kalou, Malouda, Benayoun and Alex. Most of these are first choice players. As long as we have Petr Cech and John Terry, I think we should not have a problem. Ancelotti has even announced his starting eleven: Cech, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry and Cole, Ramires, Essien and Mikel, strikers Kakuta, Malouda and Anelka.

What do we see? Petr Cech on goal. Couple of top centre backs, world class full backs, very strong and fluid midfield and this lovely French trio in attack. This team should be more than able to get a win at Villa Park today. The front trio combination is very interesting. I don’t know when was the last time we had all the front three from the same nationality leave alone being French. I’m very very excited to see Kakuta starting. I’ve been bigging him up for many months now but he’s not been given a run of opportunities to live up to the hype. With so many injuries at Chelsea, this is the perfect opportunity for Kakuta to put Kalou and Sturridge on their toes.

Kakuta’s success is very crucial for us because he is a different type of player. He is the kind of player we’ve been missing for seasons now. Ever since Robben and Duff left us, we’ve not had a skilful and pacy winger that can cause havoc. Malouda is excellent no doubt but he is more effective when he is involved in the team moves. I don’t expect Malouda to pick the ball up near half way line and take it to the box by beating a few men on the way. I’d expect that from Kakuta. He is capable of that. After Arjen Robben, I don’t remember a Chelsea player doing such things. Which is why I’m so excited about Kakuta’s talent and what he can bring to this Chelsea side.

The Chelsea website also confirms that Bosingwa would be on the bench and could even play for about 30 minutes. It would be great to see him. It’s a pity that Bosingwa couldn’t play a role in our title winning season. It’s strange that the Chelsea that he played in and the Chelsea that he will play today are different. My memories of Bosingwa was a lot around how tries to do the Lionel Messi impression. I think he really wants to score/set up a remarkable goal that he can show his grandchildren. But he is a bloody good player, no doubting that. Ashley Cole on the left and Bosingwa on the right – this is damn explosive. This full back pair could be so crucial in how far we get in champions league. The cruel thing in football – Paulo Ferreira – who has been brilliant in the right back, might have to make way for Bosingwa. That’s the way it is.

I did my old prediction trick. I booted up PES 2011 on PS3. I played Aston Villa vs Chelsea at (created) Villa Park in Professional difficulty. It was a 15 minute match. I selected the same Chelsea team that Ancelotti has picked for this match. And we won 2-0. The first goal was from Malouda – nice team move – in what was practically the last attack of the first half. The second goal was an own goal from intense Chelsea pressure by about the 60th minute. Villa got their chances but Chelsea controlled the match all 90 minutes. I’d be more than happy with this result in today’s match.

You know what, the last time these two teams played in premier league, one team scored 7 goals. Chill out and have a great weekend!