Chelsea vs Aston Villa Tactical Preview:

- Facing a possible four-man in-form attack
- Possible weaknesses to target

Disclaimer: All footage used is for educational purposes only. Copyrights belong to the Premier League and Hotstar.

Villa have been excellent this season, and for good reason. Dean Smith has kept Grealish happy with the captaincy and intelligent additions to both attack and defence. Emi Martinez, with 8 clean sheets in 13 (most in the league) is arguably the most in-form keeper in the league.

While defence has looked rock steady, it is the attack making the difference this season. El Ghazi, Traore, Watkins and the injured Barkley have all glittered in a 4-2-3-1 (they sometimes play 4-3-3), and Grealish has been outstanding. Like Arsenal, Villa favor the left flank.

So what makes the attack dangerous? Villa have the most touches in the penalty box in the PL (475.) Grealish (125 touches) and Watkins (93) are 1st and 5th in the league for penalty box touches in the league. They also have the most shots/90 (a staggering 16.3 shots a game.)

Villa favor a direct attacking approach. Grealish, El Ghazi, Traore, Watkins are all players that love running at defenders and driving towards the box; this makes tackling them harder. Grealish (#10 in the 4-2-3-1) prefers drifting left, making their left wing stronger.

Here, they're quick to move the ball out wide to Traore (RIF.) Once Palace adjust, Villa pass central to Luiz. Watch what happens next. El Ghazi (LAM) drags the FB narrow, making space for Grealish (#10 drifting wide.) When the FB is drawn to Grealish, El Ghazi gets into the box

When it isn't Grealish on the left, El-Ghazi causes problems with quick feet and take ons, always attacking the box. Showing El Ghazi inside on his right would be suicidal as he posses a good shot. Reece/Azpi have to show him on his weaker left like this, forcing him to cross.

On the right Traore offers a similar threat on his left foot. As Watkins draws Van Aanholt to himself, Traore is free in the inside left channel. When he receives the ball, he wastes no time in running at the static defence and gets a terrific shot away.

Up front, Watkins is a hard working forward who can run the flanks. Here, he drags Dann (CB) out wide and crosses into the box, whereas the other CB (Kouyate) has to watch for Luiz (DM) and El Ghazi (LW) ghosting in behind him. The front 4's fluidity in movement is problematic.

Here's that fluidity causing issues. As Traore collects the ball, Watkins goes right, confusing Dann (stay central or cover LB?) Dann stays central, allowing Watkins to get into the box. Dann & Kouyate move wide to block the shot, and Traore gets into Watkin's position to score.

Apart from being strong in possession, Villa's pace is also devastating on the counter. You can see Grealish starting the scintillating move and almost finishing it too. We got punished similarly vs Wolves and we have to be careful not to be caught out on the break.

Not going to elaborate too much on Grealish considering how evident his brilliance is, but he will be creating moves and getting at the end of them too. Technically he's great, is very agile, understands the movement patterns of his teammates and is a penalty box nuisance.

Given space, Grealish is almost Hazard like; he bursts into space at full throttle but still retains the ability to change direction at speed without losing balance. His passing is also excellent in these situations. Remember not letting El Ghazi shoot with his right foot?

And just like Hazard, he sometimes doesn't need his teammates to pick out something spectacular. Again, given the space to collect the ball, he will charge forward, and choose the best option. Technically gifted in all aspects, Grealish anywhere in and around the box is threat #1

Weaknesses? Mings (unavailable/sent off vs Palace) had won 80.0% of his aerial duels (5th in the league.) Additionally, Villa have conceded 4 goals from set pieces already and could be vulnerable with Konsa, his replacement at 62.7%. Hause, the other CB is tied 1st at 80.6%.

West Ham showed an interesting way to disrupt their rhythm by cutting out the three short passing options to the keeper. Except the CB, not many of Villa's players are good in the air, and winning 2nd balls could help us massively in pushing Villa on the back foot.

Out of possession, Villa take up a very narrow 4-4-2, preventing teams from playing through the lines. However, this leaves the flanks open, something Lamps would want to use with Pulisic/CHO (even Werner) out wide. Here, when Eze has the ball, the RW is open for a diagonal.

Again, Villa become too narrow, allowing West Ham a pass down the line from Coufal to Bowen. Irrespective of who plays at LW/RW for us, we could quickly use this passing lane to bypass the Villa midfield and get into dangerous crossing positions like Bowen.

West Ham scored the winning goal by exploiting this narrow, compact shape. Moyes removed Antonio and brought on Benrahma, who takes a wide position during the attack as Villa become very narrow. Once he's in the box, his dangerous cross is headed in by Bowen.

To sum up:
- Villa might start with a 4-2-3-1, with a fluid front 4 consisting of Watkins, Grealish, El Ghazi and Traore. Rotation because of short turnaround time could see Trezeguet come in.
- Grealish is the orchestrator of the opera. Strangle him, and Villa's symphony chokes.

- Be wary of inside forwards El Ghazi and Traore coming in to shoot. Cash and Targett will overlap to cross, but no real aerial threat from Villa except on set pieces. Restrict the wide AMs to crossing.
- Villa hold a narrow shape in defence. Use diagonals, FB-W passing lane.

- Villa played a half with 10 men (and scored two.) Watkins, Grealish, Diaz played full 90'. El Ghazi 85'. Only Traore played one half. Fatigue could kick in second half if Villa don't rotate.
- Villa will offer ample space on the flanks; we have to mix up our threat from wide.

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