Chelsea banished memories of poor performances and results to earn their third victory in a row at Leicester on Saturday afternoon.
Having edged past Leeds before beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, the Blues gave a much more convincing display at the King Power Stadium as Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic all netted in a 3-1 win.
Chelsea remain tenth and have games against teams both above and below them coming up.
Everton managed to lift themselves out of the relegation zone by beating Brentford, a much-needed boost ahead of what will be a tricky trip to Stamford Bridge.
The Toffees have only ever won once at Chelsea in the Premier League era, that coming in 1994 when Paul Rideout scored the only goal of the game.
Chelsea will hope the international break is benevolent injury-wise when players return towards the end of March. Villa will present a stern challenge for Graham Potter, with Unai Emery more than capable of masterminding an exemplary away performance.
The Villans’ last league win at Chelsea came in 2011. The following season, they were smashed 8-0.
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These two sides shared a disappointing goalless draw back in January, with their struggles clear for all to see at Anfield.
Liverpool can’t retain any consistency and questions marks loom over Potter’s ability to get regular positive results.
If you don’t remember Chelsea’s last trip to Wolves in the Premier League, it’s because it was a boring 0-0 draw. It was notable for the visitors having to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak which meant only four outfield players were named on the bench.
There’s potential for a reunion with Wolves striker Diego Costa, though he’s out for a month so needs his recovery to go perfectly.
When Chelsea were beaten 4-1 at Brighton in late October, it was hoped that would be as low as the atmosphere got.
Instead, Potter’s former employers are threatening to finish above the Blues thanks to stars like Alexis Mac Allister and Kaoru Mitoma. The Blues need to win this one, for Potter’s pride more than anything.
A largely dull affair exploded into life the last time these two teams met. Jorginho’s penalty looked to have won Chelsea all three points in the 87th minute, but Casemiro’s stoppage time header saw Manchester United grab a share of the spoils.
However, this is a game at risk of being pushed back as United remain in the FA Cup and the semi-finals are due to take place on the same weekend as their scheduled trip to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea will of course have a couple more matches to fit into their schedule once they discover their opponents in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Blues overcame Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on aggregate to reach the final eight, where fixtures will take place on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 April before return games on 18 and 19 April.
Those dates all fall in midweek which means there won’t need to much rearranging on kick off times.
On this edition of Son of Chelsea, part of the 90min podcast network, Daniel Childs reacts to Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday to make it three wins in a row for Graham Potter.
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Credit: 90min.com
