The good: a lot of rested players may show some of the fire that was sorely missing in Chelsea's last two Premier League matches. Lampard, Essien, Drogba and perhaps Bossy will play and will have fresh legs -- and one, hopes, fresh motivation.

The bad: Roberto Di Matteo has turned Chelsea into a defence-first team. How will that play against a dour Alex McLeish team that has an aversion to taking risks? Could we be in for another Tottenham stalemate?

Think we will see quite a few changes from Benfica...

Cech

Bosingwa Cahill Terry Cole

Mikel

Lampard Essien

Sturridge Malouda

Drogba

1-0 Chels with a Lamps penalty

The bad: Roberto Di Matteo has turned Chelsea into a defence-first team. How will that play against a dour Alex McLeish team that has an aversion to taking risks? Could we be in for another Tottenham stalemate?

Well, I'd take that over the result we got against them at home!

You raise some good points but I think we'll be okay, like you said we've rested some players and I expect us to line up fairly similarly to what gibbo said above, hopefully with a similar result!

Lampard, Essien, Malouda, Cahill and Drogba I think will almost certainly start

I wonder what happened to Romeu...?

This long run of fixtures with games every few days will soon take its toll; a few of the players already looked very tired especially Mata. Managing the players and rotating the team will be crucial. I'd leave Torres, Mata, Cole and Ramires in the stands and put Lakaku, Romeu and a couple of other reserve players on the bench. We need the three points but we also need a fully fit squad for the sprint to the finish. A tight squeaky bum win against Villa will do for a start.

I'd give mata the day off for this one. Maybe give terry a rest to with the injuries he has had lately.

Cech

Ivan Luiz cahill Cole

Lampard Mikel

Ramires Torres Sturridge

Drogba

Mata was basically a second striker last night so I would play torres or drogba there whilst he is rested.

I'd rotate a good 6 or 7 for this game

I'd like to leave out

Bosingwa

JT

Cole

Mikel

Rambo

Mata

Torres

And bring in

Ivan (if fit)

Cahil

Bertrand

Romeu (fit again)

Lampard

Studge

Drogs

I think we have more chance of winning the Champions league than we do of finishing fourth in the league so for me the CL games are more important now.

Hi all I have 4 tickets for this game that I'm desperate to get rid of as well can no longer go! tried refunding at box office but you can't do that for away games. will take face value £45 each or nearest value!

Sorry for touting but at the moment I'm £200 worst off with nothing to show for it!

I'd just like a win.

Another round of rotation is on the card, I expect something similar to:

GK

Boswinga JT Cahill Betrand

Essien Lampard Ramires

Sturridge Drogba Malouda

In Mata's (likely) absence, the next best guy in his mode is Torres, but he has played just about every game lately, could do with a bit of rest too.Kalou played, so I expect Malouda to put in a shift.

ice, it wouldn't surprise me to see exactly that line-up. Perhaps with Luiz instead of JT.

Definitely give mata a rest in this one, looked like he was struggling against Benfica. Was impressed with Kalou and think he has warranted another start, I think it will be a hugely different team than midweek;

--------------Cech

--Boss---Cahill--JT---Cole

-------------Essien

------Lamps---ramires

--Studge-------------kalou

----------Drogba

Saying that good old Robbie D has always managed to surprise me with his team selections so who knows!!!

I would play Torres this game and Drogs against Benfica.Rest Mata.Sturridge in.I would play JT aswell he needs game experience, so he doesnt make stupid pens again.Others dont matter.

Cech

Bossi---------Cahil---------JT-----------Cole(Ryan)

Rami----------Mikel(Ess)-----------Lamps

Sturridge----Torres-----Malouda(Kalou)

Edited March 29, 201214 yr by Rami

I can't understand why people are using Bosingwa at RB after Ferreira's decent outing midweek? He was better in that 75 odd minutes than Bosingwa all season.

The Ugly : Everyone selecting Bosingwa in their starting line up.

What's the news on Ivanovic? Is he still injured or can he play? If he can then he has to be the number one choice for RB. Ferreira would be my 2nd choice. Bossy? 20th choice.

It's not an easy game, but we can win this one.

I'd love to see us play 4-4-2 with both Drogba and Torres up front, but that wont happen. Not sure who is more suited against Villa.

Feel a bit sorry for Lukaku. Never gets to play. Talk about wasting a real gem.

People are hardly overrating Paulo's performance vs Benfica.The last 10-15 mins before his sub, he was overran multiple times by Benfica's left wing, infact 90% of Benfica's attacks were in that area,even with the help he got from one of the best tacklers in the world Ramires.If there is any1 to be praised it should be Ashley Cole, he wasnt beaten even once for 90min, not to mention that he was helped only by Mata.This thread is about Vila-Chelsea, we dont need to defend (well as i said earlier in my post Paulo didnt even defend that good), we need to take the 3 points ,we need to score goals.Bosingwa on his day can run past 1 or 2 players and even score.So to all who say Ferreira should be starting ahead of Boss against VILLA ! - well u got 0 football sense.

Edited March 29, 201214 yr by Rami

People are hardly overrating Paulo's performance vs Benfica.The last 10-15 mins before his sub, he was overran multiple times by Benfica's left wing, infact 90% of Benfica's attacks were in that area,even with the help he got from one of the best tacklers in the world Ramires.If there is any1 to be praised it should be Ashley Cole, he wasnt beaten even once for 90min, not to mention that he was helped only by Mata.

At last, someone who actually watched the game.

Two points:

- Nico Gaitan is Benfica's best player. By some distance. Both teams appeared to attack more in the second half, leaving space for counterattacks, and naturally Benfica would try and circulate the ball to their best defenders.

- Ashley Cole let Bruno Cesar slip by him numerous times. He is clearly on the decline and allowing a middling winger like Cesar the time and space to continually cut inside onto his favoured foot was another example of his decline.

So we're all agreed, then? Both fullback were excellent. And both fullbacks were flawed.

Next topic?

Next then is, how many goals do you guys predict?

I'd just like a win.

Yup same here mate. A 2-0 win to save 'sweaky bum' time please...

I thought Paulo did quite well, especially considering how little game time he's had up till now.

is anyone else going/'been to villa away before? wheres good to drink before the game?

Two points:

- Nico Gaitan is Benfica's best player. By some distance. Both teams appeared to attack more in the second half, leaving space for counterattacks, and naturally Benfica would try and circulate the ball to their best defenders.

- Ashley Cole let Bruno Cesar slip by him numerous times. He is clearly on the decline and allowing a middling winger like Cesar the time and space to continually cut inside onto his favoured foot was another example of his decline.

If Bruno Cesar was running past Cole on the touch line (just like Gaitan was running past Paulo) it wouldve been Ashley's fault, but the thing is he was cutting inside to shoot with his left foot so its actually DM's fault in these situations !

Edited March 30, 201214 yr by Rami

I thought Paulo did quite well, especially considering how little game time he's had up till now.

Careful, that be thinking talk.