Chelsea haven’t won at Villa Park this Millennium, why would they start now?

February 21, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Match Previews 
villa park

Chelsea shalt not pass victorious (people spoke that way the last time they did)

Villa have made our home ground a fortress against Chelsea since the turn of the century, winning 4 times, drawing 6 times and not losing once. The last time they beat us at our place was back in March of 1999, with their rumoured next manager, Gianfranco Zola, on the pitch. Here’s a list of all our home results since 2000 (with their manager of the time in brackets) against Chelsea:

02.09.2007     Aston Villa 2-0 Chelsea     (José Mourinho)
02.01.2007     Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea     (José Mourinho)
01.02.2006     Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea     (José Mourinho)
11.09.2004     Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea     (José Mourinho)
12.04.2004     Aston Villa 3-2 Chelsea     (Claudio Ranieri)
17.12.2003     Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea (Claudio Ranieri)
19.04.2003     Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea     (Claudio Ranieri)
09.02.2002     Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea     (Claudio Ranieri)
27.08.2000     Aston Villa 1-1 Chelsea     (Gianluca Vialli)
22.01.2000     Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea     (Gianluca Vialli)

As you can see, Chelsea’s last 2 managers haven’t even stuck around long enough to make the trip to Aston. Jose Mourinho left a few weeeks after they last came to us and then Avram Grant was gone by the end of that season. Then Big Phil didn’t quite last it out there to reach our fixture. So it’s Hiddink who’ll be next on the list of Chelsea managers who fail to get a win at Villa Park.

Why so cocky?

Good question. Cockiness against Chelsea may seem like a strange concept, but if we want to emerge from this game unbeaten then confidence needs to be on a high. Both for the players and for the fans. We will need the team to believe they can win so that they play well and attack fiercely and the fans to believe we can win so that the cheering reaches full volume.

So come on Villans, believe in your team, believe we can win this one.

And if we don’t… we’ll blame it on NMS!


Comments

Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!