Aston Villa 1-0 Chelsea – Premier League: Live score, match action and updates as under-pressure Mauricio Pochettino suffers NIGHTMARE start after Marc Cucurella scores early own goal

Kieran Gill, Mail Sport, at Villa Park:

Calamitous defending from Chelsea. A single pass from Pau Torres cut them open as Noni Madueke and Trevoh Chalobah – Chelsea’s right winger and right back – were not on the same page. An easy cut-back from Lucas Digne then led to a shot from John McGinn which was bundled in by Marc Cucurella. Own goal and just like the loss at Arsenal, down 1-0 after four minutes.

Chelsea have calmed down a little now and are having the lion’s share of possession.

However, we all know how potent Aston Villa are on the counter-attack, so they won’t mind the Blues having the ball.

At the moment, they aren’t doing much with it.

Cole Palmer has his first real touch of the ball, but after a nice start to the move, he loses the ball after trying to find Nicolas Jackson.

If Chelsea are to get anything from this game, they will need to find him as much as they can.

Villa Park is absolutely bouncing, I’m not sure I’ve heard many atmospheres better than this.

The home side are thriving off it and Lucas Digne has just hit the side netting with a volley.

Chelsea can’t cope with Villa at the moment, they need to try and ride this out.

What a start for Aston Villa!

Villa Park goes bananas as the ball trickles into the bottom righthand corner off of Marc Cucurella.

Lucas Digne fires in a low cross at pace to John McGinn, whose strike is heading wide but it bounces off Cucurella and in.

I said it had been a decent start by Chelsea, I spoke too soon, it’s been a nightmare.

I never thought I’d see Benoit Badiashile trying to smash a volley into the back of the net.

He does try, and funnily enough, it flies wide. It comes after Moises Caicedo won a free-kick.

A decent start by the Blues.

Villa Park roars as the home side get the ball rolling.

Can Aston Villa keep the singing all night, or will Chelsea bounce back?

The atmosphere is buzzing, and so am I, this is going to be a great watch.

Wow, Villa Park is absolutely bouncing!

The fans know how important this game is in their team’s search for Champions League football.

The flames are out, Ozzy Osbourne’s rock music is on, and the fans are singing their hearts out. The atmosphere is truly incredible.

The teams are now nearly ready, this is going to be a belter.

Right, kick-off is nearing, so I want to hear what you think.

Aston Villa are the favourites for sure, but football is not played on paper, it’s played on the pitch.

What do you all think is going to happen?

Everybody knows how good Cole Palmer has been lately.

Nobody expected him to be sitting at the top of the Premier League goal-scoring charts with former teammate Erling Haaland, I certainly didn’t.

Well, he is, and that’s because he has scored 10 goals in his last six appearances. Incredible form.

He will be looking to go clear in the race for the Golden Boot with a goal tonight. Fantasy Premier League players will be hoping he does.

He is in a lot of people’s teams.

Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea boss, speaking to TNT Sports:

We need to react, we need to compete because football is about results. We need to get a positive result.

We are always being positive. Everyone is disappointed after the game (Arsenal loss) which is why we have made the changes to get a positive result today. We need to be ready in our minds to compete.

I can’t believe players are wearing gloves in April.

This is the time of year that the sun is meant to be shining and we can stick to t-shirts, not jumpers.

Well, it looks like The Chelsea players are having to wrap up warm in Birmingham, it’s not very warm.

Nicolas Jackson may not have picked the best time to shave his head, he wouldn’t have to wear a snood over it then!

Unai Emery, Aston Villa manager, speaking to TNT Sports:

We are feeling comfortable during the season. Our focus is clear, we focus on each match and only that match. We respect every competition and every team.

Chelsea are behind us but we will respect them. We played against them here two months ago and we lost in the FA Cup, clearly.

This game is a huge one in terms of Champions League qualification.

Aston Villa currently sit on 66 points with four games to go, six clear of fifth place Tottenham.

With a win get another step closer to their dream of Champions League football, their destiny is in their own hands.

Spurs have played two games less than Vila, but do have an inferior goal difference by five goals. They face North London rivals Arsenal tomorrow at home.

Villa will be cheering the Gunners on tomorrow, but first, they have to get the job done themselves tonight.

Ollie Watkins has been on fire this campaign.

The Aston Villa striker is joint-second in the goal-scoring charts with 19 goals, just one behind Cole Palmer and Erling Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot.

If Watkins bags a goal today he will become the first Villa player to reach 20 in a season since Peter Withe in 1980-81.

He has also scored in his last two Premier League games against Chelsea. Good omens.

Villa fans will be hoping he can do it once again today.

I wonder what is going through Cole Palmer’s head?

He looks very focused in this picture, but you never know, he could be thinking about what what show he wants to watch on the bus back to London later.

In all seriousness, Chelsea fans will be delighted that Palmer is back in the side, they sorely missed him on Tuesday night.

He can’t solve all of the Blues’ glaring problems, but he can sort one by finding the back of the net.

He’s been doing that a lot lately.

Kieran Gill, Mail Sport, at Villa Park:

Looking at Chelsea’s bench, if Mauricio Pochettino needs to turn to someone to change the game, who does he use? Nobody on there who screams a game-changer, albeit we don’t know much about the academy boys who’ve been drafted in…

Kieran Gill, Mail Sport, at Villa Park:

After all that, no Reece James in the squad! Chelsea’s social media team got us hook, line and sinker. But in bigger news, Cole Palmer starts after overcoming his illness. Interesting that the club have posted the line-up as if Palmer is up front with Nicolas Jackson on the left wing, Mykhailo Mudryk in the middle and Noni Madueke on the right. But after the James fiasco, they’ve destroyed my trust…

There we go then, Cole Palmer starts for Chelsea.

I’m a little bit surprised that Mauricio Pochettino has only made three changes from the side that got battered by Arsenal, I thought there would be a mass exodus.

Trevoh Chalobah and Thiago Silva are the other two changes, replacing Alfie Gilchrist and Axel Disasi. Enzo Fernandez is the player who makes way for Palmer, he is out until the end of the season.

It also appears Kieran and I were duped by Chelsea’s social media team, there is no place in the squad for Reece James.

Douglas Luiz returns to the starting 11.

He is the one change that Unai Emery has made to the side that beat Bournemouth 3-1 last week.

Moussa Diaby is the unlucky player to make way for him.

The Chelsea players have arrived at Villa Park and they look like they mean business.

They will be desperate to avenge their 5-0 loss to rivals Arsenal, but will they have the help of Cole Palmer from the start?

We will find out in just a couple of minutes…

Aston Villa have waited a long time to do a league double over Chelsea, is today the day?

The last time they managed it was back in the 1989-90 campaign. To put how long ago that is into context, that 10 years before I was born (apologies if I have just made you feel old).

The good news for Villa is that they have won their last two league matches against Chelsea.

They are in supreme form too, so you wouldn’t bet against them making it three in a row.

Well then, that was a very good spot by Kieran!

It would be huge for Chelsea if Reece James is indeed available for selection tonight.

They have been missing both his leadership and his talents for far too long. It’s been another really tough season for the captain.

We will find out if he makes the squad in just over 10 minutes…

Kieran Gill, Mail Sport, at Villa Park:

Interesting photo uploaded to Chelsea’s Twitter feed as, in the background, I can spy the number 24. That’s Reece James’s shirt, so you have to assume he’s going to be in the squad for the first time since December 10. Needs must, for Mauricio Pochettino, because he’s got so many injured players, he probably needs to start using the ones returning earlier than he would like.

Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea boss, speaking on Friday:

We had a meeting (on Friday) and we tried to explain how we need to behave when the game is tough and when the demands are so high. We need to try to be stronger, to really trust in the way we play, to trust in our philosophy, the way we prepare the games and everything that follows, and also to have discipline.

We have to be positive, be strong, and believe that we can have a good game [against Aston Villa. We need a good attitude and a good approach, and go there to compete with a team that is fighting to be in the Champions League next season. We need to think, “We are Chelsea”, respect ourselves, and do our best to win the game and be competitive.

I bet Chelsea fans love the away end at Villa Park.

Chelsea give them something to cheer about almost every time they make the journey up to the West Midlands.

The Blues have won seven of their last nine Premier League visits to Villa Park, losing the other two.

They also won an FA Cup replay 3-1 at the stadium earlier this season, so even when Chelsea are struggling, Villa Park comes through.

Will the strong record continue this evening?

The Aston Villa fans are looking well up for this.

The child in the photo looks very happy to be holding that flare, and they are not the only one.

You can feel the buzz around Villa Park, you just get the sense the atmosphere will be booming tonight.

When this stadium starts rocking it’s incredibly hard to be the away side.

Mauricio Pochettino came out swinging yesterday.

He said he is not the only one on trial at Chelsea because everyone at the club must prove why they do not deserve to be dumped.

Pochettino also admitted he hasn’t spoken to the owners in months and communicates through Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

It feels a little like that pointing Spiderman meme behind the scenes…

Let’s start with the good news, shall we?

Cole Palmer is back in contention for this one after recovering from illness. After that, it’s a bit grim for Chelsea supporters.

Malo Gusto is again missing today and he has been joined on the treatment table by Raheem Sterling and Carney Chukwuemeka.

Enzo Fernandez underwent surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the season and gutting Mauricio Pochettino’s midfield.

It’s rather downcast over Villa Park this evening and that ironically matches up to the deflated mood that has gripped Chelsea.

Mauricio Pochettino has 12 players out today, a whole starting XI plus an extra player, but his side must respond to the loss at Arsenal.

They were, in truth, pretty woeful that day and patience among supporters is now running very thin. No pressure, then!

Let’s go through that lengthy list of absentees next…

Hello, all. I hope you’ve just about recovered from the earlier action in the Premier League. There were so many twists and turns again!

We now turn our attention to matters at Villa Park. Surely just one more defeat spells the end for Chelsea’s European football hopes?

That may well prove fatal for Mauricio Pochettino, too, although he did, in fairness to him, come out swinging with his comments yesterday.

Villa, meanwhile, are so close to wrapping up a top-four finish at the expense of Tottenham. They’re currently six points ahead of Spurs.

I fancy this one to be a bit of a goalfest…

Stay right here for all the team news and minute-by-minute updates!