Chelsea vs Aston Villa: The Titanic vs The Iceberg

Welcome back to another edition of Don't look back in anger. The international break is over, and (at the time of writing) it looks like every Villa player has returned uninjured, which is good. Unfortunately, Aston Villa's next game is against Chelsea, which is bad. But I suppose it could be worse.

Disclaimer

This piece contains spoilers from the Titanic. If you haven't seen it, what have you been doing for the last 18 years?! But you also might want to look away. In fact, leave now, and come back once you have seen it. But for everyone else, put on your life jacket, find the nearest life boat and enjoy!

The last time we met

Aston Villa and Chelsea last played in early February, and just like many games last season, there were very few positives to be found. I suppose you could call only losing 2-1 a positive, but I feel that may be clutching at straws. Villa's goal was headed in by Jores Okore from a nice Carles Gil cross, this was Okore's first and so far only goal in the claret and blue. However, just two games later Paul Lambert was sacked, and Tim Sherwood's arrival marked the last time we saw Carles Gil for a few months.

The game took place on February 7th, and Jores Okore's goal was Villa's first in the league in 2015. In fact, it was Villa's first goal since the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on the 20th OF DECEMBER. Yes, Villa went on a 6 game goalless run which somehow wasn't as bad as the 12 game winless run that Villa went on last season. Dark days people.

Which ship is sinking faster?

Aston Villa are currently sitting in 18th place, having won just once so far this season. Even worse, they have lost the last four games, against beatable opponents for the most part. At the minute, relegation looks to be a huge possibility, and Tim Sherwood has seemingly lost control of the ship. With Villa drifting along, will Chelsea be the iceberg that smashes the team, relegating them to the bottom of the ocean?

But what if we're looking at this the wrong way?

When Jose Mourinho lost his job as Chelsea manager the first time, it came after a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa. Sitting in 16th place, this Chelsea side that won the title last year are taking on water fast. But the reason that the Titanic hit the iceberg was that they didn't see it coming. So ff Chelsea try to look past Villa, they could get sunk. If that does happen, it could so easily mark the end of Jose at Chelsea. After all, the captain always goes down with the ship.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Adebayor is probably feeling quite happy with himself, having not boarded the ship during the transfer window.

Chelsea this season

Whilst consisting of mostly the same players, this season's Chelsea are vastly different to the side that won the Premier League title last year. A disastrous start against Swansea saw Jose Mourinho place the blame on team doctor Eva Carneiro, who later quit. The off the field controversy has largely overshadowed a dismal start to the season, during which time Chelsea have recorded just two wins in their first eight games.

Normally, injuries would be good news for the opposition, but Branislav Ivanovic's hamstring injury might actually be bad news for Villa. Ivanovic has been particularly poor this season, and his replacement, Baba Rahman comes in with a lot of hype. It will be interesting to see what kind of Chelsea team will start after the international break, with players such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kenedy all being touted as potential starters, in place of the out of form Cesc Fabregas.

Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, Jose Mourinho is a d**k, and I'd love to see Villa responsible for his dismissal. So Tim Sherwood, buy yourself some favour with the fans and make it a win. You can unsink the Titanic Tim. Or if not, let it go, and let someone else do it for you.

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