Chelsea v. Aston Villa: CONFIRMED lineups and open thread

Interesting fact: if Aston Villa can beat Chelsea by five goals, the former will be in first place in the Premier League. So here's hoping for an absolute drubbing of the Blues.

But in reality, we all come into this match knowing that Chelsea are the heavy favorites. There's a very good chance that we're going to see Villa play the "no, you keep the ball, we'll just be packed back here" style that we saw against Liverpool. And in fact, the lineup suggests that's exactly what we'll get. In a match like this, even a one-goal loss could probably be seen as a victory. And no matter what happens this weekend, Villa will still be in the top half of the table when it's all over.

So join us as we panic about the match that we probably shouldn't panic about. Lineups are below, and our group therapy session is even further down in the comments. Up the Villa!

Aston Villa starting XI

Brad Guzan, Alan Hutton, Philippe Senderos, Nathan Baker, Aly Cissokho, Tom Cleverley, Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Kieran Richardson, Andi Weimann, Gabby Agbonlahor

Aston Villa bench

Shay Given, Ciaran Clark, Leandro Bacuna, Darren Bent, Carlos Sánchez, Charles N'Zogbia, Jack Grealish

Chelsea starting XI

Thibaut Courtois, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta, Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic, Willian, Oscar, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa

Chelsea bench

Andre Schurrle, Loic Remy, John Obi Mikel, Filipe Luis, Peter Cech, Kurt Zouma, Didier Drogba