Chelsea XI vs Aston Villa: Confirmed team news and predicted lineup

Reece James, Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana and Edouard Mendy all trained at Cobham this week ahead of Aston Villa’s visit to Stamford Bridge.

N’Golo Kante got 60 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Charlton last Friday and both he and Mount will likely again be on Graham Potter’s bench on Saturday.

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Thiago Silva, Cesar Azpilicueta and Armando Broja all remain out. Fofana and Sterling also need a bit more time to build fitness despite their presence in training and will be left out of the squad on Saturday.

Silva is about a fortnight away from recovering from a knee injury and Azpilicueta remains out after taking a kick to the head against Southampton last month.

Chelsea, however, have a host of options for their 10th vs 11th match and will likely continue in their 3-4-3 formation.

Kepa Arrizabalaga will continue in goal and Fofana could step back into defence alongside Kalidou Koulibaly and one of either Marc Cucurella or Benoit Badiashile.

Potter will have some caution around using James despite his presence in training and could opt for Ruben Loftus-Cheek at wing-back instead, with Ben Chilwell playing on the other side.

Enzo Fernandez and Mateo Kovacic will likely continue in midfield and Potter’s preferred front three seems to be Sterling, Havertz and Joao Felix.

Potter will have a strong bench to call upon as he tries to push his side back up towards qualification for any of the three European competitions.

Predicted Chelsea XI: Kepa; Chalobah, Koulibaly, Cucurella; Loftus-Cheek, Enzo, Kovacic, Chilwell; Mudryk, Havertz, Felix.