Aston Villa v Chelsea: Back the hosts to make more trouble for Maresca | OneFootball

English Premier League

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca faces a tough match against Aston Villa on Saturday

Aston Villa are a reliable bunch to back when at Villa Park and with Cole Palmer a marked man, Chelsea's woeful form looks set to continue, says Lewis Jones...

Betfair Football Superboost

Back Matheus Cunha to have one or more shots on target when Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to Bournemouth on Saturday at the super-boosted price of 1/1 from 1/2.

The Cherries are 12 places above Wolves in the Premier League but the Brazilian has been a big threat for the visitors all season, with 14 shots on target in his last six matches. With 30 this season, Cunha is in the top five players in the Premier League for shots on target and averages 1.5 every 90 minutes.

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No Palmer, no threat from Chelsea

Teams have worked out Chelsea, whose possession without much purpose is making them a touch watch and Premier League points have dried up.

That purpose of their play has been to find Cole Palmer in dangerous areas in the hope he can unlock the door. But Palmer is now a marked man - as his fouls drawn figure of 2.06 per game suggests. He is getting kicked and getting kicked a lot.

Sometimes two men are marking him as if you stop him, you stop Chelsea from functioning as an attacking unit.

The Chelsea maverick has now failed to score or assist in his last four Premier League games which has coincided with Chelsea's drop in form, losing four of their last eight matches in the league.

Things may get worse before they get better too for Palmer as Chelsea's main suppliers to him are both out injured.

Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke have combined to create 20 chances for Palmer this season but both are set for a spell on the sidelines. Jackson, in particular, is a huge miss.

Although his finishing will always hold him back, his movement is intelligent and in turn that creates space for Palmer to work in.

Without Jackson doing the ugly work Palmer's output is likely to decrease further. They failed to have a shot on target in their meek showing at Brighton and they averaged a huge figure of 92 passes per shot - the second-worst ratio by any team in a Premier League game this season.

That makes Chelsea a very easy team to oppose at Villa Park where they're being priced up as much the better team at 2.68 on the Exchange.

Villa have lost just five of their last 44 home games since the start of last season and are unbeaten in their last 13 at home in the Premier League - that alone makes their win price here of 2.72 very appealing against such an out of form team that haven't won in their last five away days.

I'm not quite brave enough to trust Villa though as they've got a terrible record playing Chelsea, losing seven of the last 10 fixtures at Villa Park and after conceding in midweek have kept just one clean sheet in their last 16 games. The absence of Pau Torres is a huge factor in that regard.

But such is the way the market is favouring Chelsea we can add some insurance to a pro-Villa play and still play a backable price by taking the 17/20 on Villa in the draw no bet market meaning we'll get stakes refunded if the game ends all-square. I think that's a great investment.

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