Losing to Wolves, Chelsea tonight and match facts from the BBC

Losing to Wolves was tough and I wrote before the match that there can't be any excuses and I had to stop myself from publishing a post after the match and the day after. It was tough and I've got to tell you, even though Liverpool lost to them last night, it shouldn't have happened.

And I'm fairly sure that I left a comment about that match as the match that told me we were not going to get top five. In the exact same paragraph I can write that winning tonight would have me believing we could again, but we have looked flat for a while now and I'm not feeling that inspired.

And nobody at the Club is to blame, it's the game and the rules and restrictions that are in place for us but apparently not others. It's also the refereeing this season. We've had decisions go against us that have cost us points and we've had decisions not given to us, that you see given in other matches, not given to us. 

I could take the decisions with no VAR, but when we have VAR it simply shouldn't happen. There aren now too many people upstairs making the game difficult. And some of the decisions getting made or not made could easily make people outside the game think that the game stinks.

It's just so frustrating. But we move on and it is Chelsea tonight and if we win tonight, guess what, I'll be all over it. But if we win tonight it will be down to the players giving a little extra and the manager getting it out of them. And maybe it will be just a little less of passing or flicking the ball when they're not confident of the ball getting to one of our players. 

And a win tonight would give us a nice cushion to Liverpool and take us a little closer. If the players wanted to show they're capable and they want it, tonight is the match. But tonight is one of 10 matches they have to do this. Playtime is over.

Match facts from the BBC

• Following their 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge earlier this season, Aston Villa are looking to complete a league double over Chelsea for the first time since the 1989-90 campaign.

• Chelsea are winless in their last two Premier League visits to Villa Park (D1 L1), having won five of their previous six games there prior. The Blues haven’t lost consecutive away league games at Villa since losing in 2002-03 and 2003-04 under Claudio Ranieri.

• Having won their last two Premier League matches against Chelsea, Aston Villa are looking for three league wins in a row against the Blues for the first time since a run of four between 1978 and 1984.

• Aston Villa have only won one of their last four Premier League home games (D1 L2), this after having won eight in succession beforehand. The Villans have scored just two goals from 76 shots (2.6% conversion rate) and 6.0 expected goals in their last four at Villa Park.

• Chelsea have lost eight of their last 10 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) away games in the Premier League (W2), including both in 2025-26 so far, going down 3-1 at Leeds in December and 2-1 at Fulham in January.

• Aston Villa have won just two of their last eight Premier League games (D3 L3), netting just five goals in this run (0.6 per game). The Villans had won 13 of their previous 15 before this (L2), averaging 2.1 goals per game.

• Aston Villa average 16.5 shots per 90 minutes when losing in the Premier League this season, almost double the amount they average in a winning game state this term (8.8).

• Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins has scored four goals in his last six Premier League games against Chelsea, though all have come at Stamford Bridge. He netted both goals in their 2-1 win in the reverse fixture in December, with Anwar El-Ghazi the last Villa player to score home and away against the Blues in a league season (2020-21).

• Tammy Abraham, who scored 21 goals in 58 Premier League appearances for Chelsea, is looking to score in back-to-back home games in the competition for the first time since December 2019 when he was a Blues player – the second game of which was against his current side Aston Villa.

• Chelsea’s João Pedro has been directly involved in five goals in five Premier League appearances against Aston Villa (2 goals, 3 assists) – against no side has he been involved in more in the competition.